Alice L Moody
by AyleanaMami
Summary: What would happen if the Girl, not boy, Who Lived wasn't James Potter's child but Lily Evans and Alastor Moody's? Read and find out because you won't be disappointed (Unless you're a total prick). *Characters listed will change as story progresses* Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and the characters Rowlings didn't create (yes, you should know which ones).
1. Chapter 1

There was a house at the end of Bernard Drive. Not a mansion with dozens of ravishing rooms with marble floors and crystal chandeliers. Not a shack with dirt floors and a leaky roof. It was a simple house with two stories, four bedrooms, a study, a small kitchen, and an even smaller living room.

Three of the four bedrooms, much like the kitchen and halls, had whitewashed walls and very little decorations of any kind in them. They were empty altogether.

The fourth bedroom, which also had few decorations: a picture of a redheaded woman with beautiful green eyes sitting on the nightstand being an example, walls were such a faded blue that one might think it was white at first glance. In it was an uncomfortable queen sized bed, a single dresser, a mirror(angled to see every corner of the room when it's viewer was lying down), and a toddler crib(which, in its self seem of of place).

Across the hall from the bedroom was a small study that only looked smaller with the amount of books that covered its shelves. It did not have a color because it's walls were all shelves and the floor, when it was visible, was covered in a dark cherry colored wood and pillars of books.

The kitchen was well stocked on both food and kitchen utensils(mainly knives). It was rarely used and therefore very clean.

The last room was the living room, which was mainly a giant fireplace, two chairs, and love seat. Every wall in the room, minus the wall with the fireplace, were dark oak wood. The last wall was made of stone, like the fireplace. Above the fireplace was a picture of several men and women of many ages and backgrounds. Other then the photo, the room was bare of decoration.

So the house at the end of Bernard Drive was simple. Very simple- except not everyone could see it. The reason, however, _was_ simple- the owner was a wizard and a paranoid one at that. It should come as no surprise then when his first visitor in two years arrived he was ready for war. He knew who his visitor was suppose to be but he knew better then to assume so he was ready for war...just incase.

He answered his door only after asking a great deal of questions.

"What house was I sorted into?"

His visitor, an old man with a ridiculously long white beard and twinkling eyes that shined over his glasses, smiled kindly at him. With a tender and very old man like voice, he replied, "Can't say, you said you'd cast Obliviate on me if I told anyone, including you, Alastor."

The owner of the house grumbled, something about not getting to use a new trap set up under the welcome mat, and opened the door.

"Albus," was all he said.

The old man smiled, "May I come in? It's quite nippy out tonight and I would much rather discuss what you called me here for indoors."

The owner, Alastor, motioned the old man called Albus inside. He led his guest into the living room and told him to wait.

"I'll be back," Alastor mumbled before disappearing down the hall.

Albus smiled before turning his focus to the picture above the fireplace. He smiled again, only faintly this time. He knew everyone in the photo. _Aberforth, Dorcas, Sirius, James, Peter, Lily..._

Albus had been so absorbed in his memories he had no idea anyone else had entered the room, that is, until he had heard them screaming.

"Constance Vigiwalance!" escaped the lips of a very frail, blue hair toddler as they latched onto Albus's arm. Surprised, and very alarmed, Albus flung his arm and it's new attachment wildly, filling the air with the now blonde hair girl's squeals. He barely had enough time to cast a shield spell when a wave of magic explodes from the girl.

Albus stumbled, going several feet back in the processes, and locked his eyes on the giggling, golden hair toddler standing in front of him.

"Alastor!"

Albus was replied with a chuckle, and not a pretty one at that.

"I see you've met Alice," said Alastor. He immediately picked up the girl who seemed unfazed by his appearance. That, along with the surprise attack Albus had just been a victim of, was enough to bewilder the old man.

Alastor had been a looker but that had been before he had become an Aruror, the Wizard form of FBI agents. His strawberry blonde hair had been lighter then and his chocolate color eyes- well- he still had both of them then. Now he wasn't even decent like he had be before... His whole body was covered in scars, more noticeably his face in which he had lost the tip of his nose and his left eye had been replaced by a magical blue one, but he had also lost his leg, which was replaced by a magical metal one that made it light enough to use.

Of course, the surprise attack and the child's react to Alastor had bewildered Albus but the child's name had down right stumped him.

"Alice, as in, Lily's daughter?"

There was a long silence in which the girl's hair returned to its natural color, or what was assumed to be her natural hair color, of light brown. She, Alice that is, was a Metamorphmagus, someone who could change their appearance at will, though the girl's eyes remained a very familiar and beautiful green. Metamorphmagus were rare, extremely rare, but they were notorious with being born to a Wizard couple with a Pureblood and a Muggleborn. Lily had been a Muggleborn but... Albus couldn't wait any longer. He used his wand to brush the hair away from Alice's forehead, revealing a very recognizable lightning bolt scar.

"She's not just Lily's daughter you know," grumbled Alastor, tightening his grip on the girl.

"No, I know this, but," started Albus but stopped. Everything made since to the old man almost instantly. The note. Alastor wanting to meet him alone. It made perfect sense. "I wish I had known, Alastor. I'm... I'm sorry."

There was an awkward silence between the two men as Alice squirmed in her father's arms playfully.

"She's not leaving, Albus," said Alastor finally. "She needs... She needs..."

"Papa, I'm tired."

Albus was quite amused by this. He had put two and two together but hearing the girl call him papa- it was comical, not to mention adorable.

"I think right now," Albus said finally, "all she needs is for you to tuck her in. I understand your decision, but please, don't make her paranoid. She still needs a childhood."

Alastor snorted, "Paranoia is a way to build character, Albus, but fear not, I'm only teaching her-"

"Constant Vigiwalance!"

The owner of the house disappeared up the stairs crackling in a very scary manner while his visitor waited once more in the living room. It wasn't long before he returned and this time Albus was very aware of someone entering the room.

"So," grumbled Alastor. All signs that he was a loving father was gone. In front of Albus stood the old Alastor- Madeye Moody. "I suppose I should start with the letter."

"I would prefer," said Albus, "if you began with Lily, how all of this came to be and such."

"Right," growled Alastor. "There might be a better place to start. I suppose you didn't know then?"

"Not even remotely."

Alastor snorted, "She was sure you did. Kept saying _'he knows everything_' but I knew you were human, barely, but human."

Albus smiled and Alastor smirked again.

"Lily, as I'm sure you remember, wasn't very good at realizing some people don't want friends, I being one of those people," Alastor started again. "To put it short, the girl caught me off guard."

Now it was Albus's turn to smirk, "You, Alastor? She caught you... Interesting."

"Oh sod off," growled Alastor but his words did nothing. Albus's smirk only turned into a grin. "Anyway, when Alice was born we almost came out about our relationship but we knew we couldn't. With the war, my job making my love ones targets, we thought it was best for her, for Alice." Alastor paused for a second. His face growing soft only to tighten up with anger. "And then that blasted prophecy mumbo jumbo started and Lily had to take Alice into hiding."

The face of Alastor Moody was never pleasant, but the face of an furious Alastor Moody was a terrifying thing.

"I told her to make one of her friends her keeper, thought it be safer and wouldn't connect her to me if it ever broke. If I had known that Black was a traitor I... I found the house first. Something told me something was wrong. When I got there Lily was..."

Albus decided then there was only one thing more frightening then a furious Alastor Moody and it was an Alastor Moody on the verge of breaking down. Thankfully, that was a sight Albus was not going to see for Alastor immediately recomposed himself before continuing.

"I took Alice and left the note saying her father had collected her. There was no bloody way I was letting her live with those horrible Muggle relatives so I took her. It was my right as her father anyways. Funny, I hadn't seen her since before Rosier but she knew it was me. Kept saying papa. Lily and I hadn't taught her the word but she only said it to me. Surprised the bloomin' pants off Lupin but he didn't figure it out. She had called me Madeye first, in fact it was her first word, followed by fuck off. Blame Lily for that one. She said it once but that was enough for Alice to pick up on it..."

When Alastor realized he was ranting, Albus already had a full fledge grin covering his face.

"Bloody hell, Albus," growled Alastor, "don't give me that look."

"Sorry my old friend," chuckled Albus. "I suppose you had another reason for calling me here then?"

Alastor nodded before standing up. "I hear the Ministry is thinking about announcing Alice as dead."

"Planning it, actually."

"Don't let them," said Alastor. "It's time people know she's with her father. And don't worry, I'm retired now. She'll be with me twenty-four-seven nothing-"

"I'm not worried, Alastor," cut in Albus. "I'm glad." The old man patted his friend on the back, a risky move seeing how paranoid the man was, and smiled. "Alice will officially be yours by this time tomorrow, I promise."

Alastor, did it again. He smiled but just like Alice, Albus found nothing scary about it.

"Thank you, Albus."

"Yes, well Alice Lily Moody does have a nice ring to it," teased Albus while heading towards the door. "Alice Moody, the Girl Who Lived. A shame the Prophet is going to sell so well with that story. Perhaps you could let Xenophilius have a interview?"

"Albus," growled Alastor. "Don't push it."

"Of course," laughed Albus, "Merlin knows that would end badly."

Alastor just narrowed his eyes.

"Goodbye, Albus."

"Until we meet again, Alastor," said Albus with a bow. He disappeared down the long sidewalk leading to the rode where he could apparate away. Alastor watch the whole time, waiting.

When the crazy old wizard was gone, Alastor climbed the stairs, wand in hand out of habit- a very good habit. He was always ready for an attack, even in his own heavily warded house. He opened his bedroom door, revealing a very precious three year old submerged in his bedcovers as if she was in a cocoon. She seemed to think it was funny, climbing into his bed and stealing all of the blankets, even though she was too small to steal them all.

Alastor held back his snort so he wouldn't wake her. Tiptoeing, well trying to anyway, he slipped into the side of the bed closest to the door, something he would never do if it wasn't for the fact it kept Alice safe. He tried not to wake her as he carefully took back enough blanket to cover himself.

"Papa?" mumbled the white hair girl.

"Yes, Alice?" whispered Alastor.

"I like our guest, he was fun... Can we keep him?"

Alastor chuckled softly, "You can't keep people, Allie."

"I know," mumbled the semiconscious toddler. "Papa?"

"Yes, Allie?" Alastor yawned.

"I love you."

Alastor smiled, "I love you too, kiddo. Now quit stealing the blanket when you think I'm not looking."

Alice giggle before growing quiet and falling asleep. Alastor was still smiling when he fell asleep- one hand on his wand, the other wrapped protectively around his daughter.


	2. Chapter 2

So in short I'm a horrible person that takes far longer then necessary to write a chapter. I've just been so busy with my Alexis Lestrange series that I've pushed poor Alice aside. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, I'm having a brain freeze when it comes to chapter 15 in Alexis's story so I had time to write this, I hope to get feed back!

Warning: this chapter contains Mad-Eye Moody. I am not responsible for any of his actions. So sorry (not really)

Enjoy

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Chapter 2

Seven years later...

Alice Lily Moody was a very rebellious child, one her teachers had a great deal of trouble controlling. She was loud, opinionated, cocky, excitable, and down right suspicious of everything. She knew what went on everywhere whether it involved her classmates or her teachers. It was very frightening and in some occasions very entertaining.

One thing was for sure though, everyone loved the crazy troublemaker- everyone, that is, besides Dudley Dursley and his friends. Not that Dudley and company ever did anything to her. They had learned their lesson, first at the hands of Alice herself, and then at the hands of her father, Alastor Moody.

Alastor Moody was down right terrifying. Even the teachers were frightened by him, either by his appearance or his harsh manner. Whenever the man came in, towering over students and teachers alike with his six foot two frame, his left eye was covered with an eyepatch ("A war injury" Alice would always explain, proudly), and his wooden leg (Another "war injury" no one questioned), and walking staff smacking against the ground harshly, leaving dents and scrapes, it was usually an event watched by the whole school.

People would wonder what foolish student had messed with Alice, or what poor substitute teacher, because the real ones knew better, had caused his appearance and wish, hope, and even pray to see how the argument between Mr. Moody, the dean, and the accuser would go down. Heaven knows they all could hear it.

"YOU CALLED ME HERE FOR WHAT?" bellowed through the halls one late June afternoon.

"Mr. Moody I would ask you refrain from yelling in front of the children," said Dean Ziggbee.

"In front of the chil- Oi!" barked Moody to the purple faced parents of Dudley Dursley. "Will you get that boy to shut it? I'm trying to talk here."

Alice failed miserably in hiding the smile that crawled on her face as Vernon Dursley, a whale of a man, turned a new shade of purple.

"How dare- I will not take this- my lawyers will hear about this!" the whale huffed.

"Gentlemen, please," said Dean Ziggbee, having gone through this same situation far to many times. "There are children present. Now, Alastor," after all these visits of course the two were on first name bases, "if you let me finish."

Moody mumbled something not as quietly as he should have earning him an "Alastor Moody!" and a choked giggle from Alice.

"Right," grumbled Ziggbee, rubbing his temples, "Alice was caught cheating off of Dudley's test and fighting, though the starter of the fight is unknown."

"It was that wretched girl!" Vernon Dursley howled.

"Our Duddekins would never start a fight," cried Petunia Dursley.

Dean Ziggbee clicked his tongue, "Right... anyway, Al-"

"Where is the teacher who supposably 'caught' her cheating?" snapped Moody.

"He had a family emerg-"

"I'm sure he did!" snorted Moody. "The lowlife, cowardly, bast-"

"Mad-Eye!" snapped Alice. "Will you let him finish? I'm hungry."

"Sorry kiddo," apologized Moody. "Continue, Frank."

Thirty minutes and several curse words later, Alice was walking down the hall with her father, a smug look on her face.

"You know, we would have been out of there faster if you hadn't spent so long arguing that Dudley is part whale," huffed Alice, but she quickly grinned. "But I did enjoy the buffoon insult. Frank was beside himself trying not to laugh."

Moody rolled his eyes at his daughter, "You're lucky today was the last day, else I would have been furious."

Alice clicked her tongue, "Right, 'cause you weren't furious once you found out what I was being accused of."

Alice ducked while Moody swatted at the back of her head.

"Constant Vigilance!" Alice screamed while Moody hobbled after her.

"Not when I'm trying to whack you!"

Alice Moody knew the moment they got home she would regret running away from her father in a fit of giggles but she didn't seem to care. Moody was very rarely playful so Alice took every chance she could to see him that way.

She beat him home by a good half block. She dodged the well placed spell traps in the yard, jumped the invisible barrier, and knocked the secret code on the door before Moody had even passed through the ward.

Once inside, however, Alice let out a loud yelp and swore very similar to how her father had in the Dean's office.

"MAD-EYE!" was screamed afterwards but it wasn't by Alice.

Moody was greeted by the sight of Alice pinning a now wandless man under her with his arm twisted in an uncomfortable looking angle. The visitor was tall, with ginger hair that was slowly balding and blue eyes shinning in his glasses, or they would be, if Alice hadn't broke them in the scuffle.

"Arthur," said Moody as if the sight of his about-to-be-eleven year old daughter pinning a fully grown man was normal, "you're early."

"Actually," muffled the man named Arthur. "You're late."

Seeing that the man was no longer a threat, Alice jumped off him and sheepishly released his arm.

"And this must be Alice," said Arthur. "Now I see why I was given an odd look for volunteering."

Alice grinned at this statement, her hair turning a very shiny gold color.

Moody snorted, "There you go, giving the girl a big head. She enjoys knowing half the Ministry is terrified of her."

Alice shot her father a look that said 'And you don't?'.

"Did you bring me my letter, Arthur?" asked Alice.

Arthur Weasley was quite surprised by the child calling him his first name but he brushed it off.

"Yes, actually I did," he said, pulling out a small vanilla envelop out of his robes. "But I need my wand back first."

Alice threw the wand at Arthur with so much force that he had to stumble for it while the girl ripped the letter from his hand.

"Can I read it now, pa?" said the jumping blonde.

"Wait 'till-" Moody stopped talking when Alice ignored him and ripped the envelop open.

Both men watched as the girl's golden/blond hair turned a dark red, reminding them both of Alice's mother, while she absorbed the words of the letter. She looked up at Arthur, then at Moody, then at Arthur, and then finally back at Moody.

Alice's hair turned a sky blue as she spoke, "Can Arthur stay for dinner?"

Arthur Weasley's eyes widened in surprise while Moody gave another creepy chuckle.

"Ah, oh, I can't," said Arthur. "Molly wouldn't-"

"Who's Molly?" asked the now very curious, orange hair girl.

"My wife," said Arthur.

"Oh!" exclaimed Alice, her hair turning blonde once more before quickly returning to its orange color of curiosity. "Do you have kids too? How many? Are any of them my age? Do they go to Hogwarts? Can-"

"Alice," said Moody, shushing the now pink hair girl instantly.

Arthur looked on in amazement and amusement.

"Likes questions, this one," he teased.

Alice beamed at him.

"That's because the more I know about someone the easier it it to take them out if they betray me," sang the neon blue hair girl.

Moody cleared his throat, well, he made the attempt to. Blasted Deatheaters and their attempts to blow up his vocal cords.

"Alice, why don't you to your room and read," he said. "I need to have a few words with Mr. Weasley."

Alice ran off towards the stairs only to beeline back and hug her father.

"Love you," she whispered.

"Love you too, kiddo," said Moody.

Then Alice turned towards the stairs and called back, "Bye Arthur, nice meeting you!"

Arthur was dumbstruck, much to Moody's amusement.

"You, know," said Moody, "Albus made a similar face the first time he met Alice. I guess I'm going to see it a lot."

Instantly Arthur snapped out of his stupor and said, "You made her bloody paranoid! If I betray her- Mad-Eye - if I betray her- I just met the girl! And how come she's not registered as a Metamorphmagus?"

Moody grinned, again not a pretty sight, and replied with a chuckle, "You like her, just admit it."

Arthur knew better then to roll his eyes in front of the Ex-Aruror. Still, he let out a sigh.

"You're going to make life at Hogwarts impossible, you know that? I don't know how people are going to deal with that live-wire."

"Oi! Your twins are just as bad," snorted Moody. "Besides, Alice knows how to behave. She's been attending Muggle grade school since she was four and they love her there."

"Muggle grade school?" said Arthur, clearly distracted. Arthur loves anything and everything Muggle related. He worked as the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic and was one of the few people there that genuinely enjoyed his job. "Does she like it? How does she keep from changing her hair in front of them?"

"She likes it alright," said Moody. "Her cousin, Lily's sister's brat, Dudley, goes there. Blasted bastard always tries to get her in trouble. That's why we were late actually. Bloody kid going to end up dead if he isn't careful."

Arthur eyes grew to the size of saucers making Moody crackle.

"I'm not threatening the bastard, just giving you an idea of his snotty personality."

Arthur let out a sigh of relief.

"And how does she control her hair?" he asked again.

"Easily," Moody replied. He said nothing else much to Arthur's annoyance.

"I noticed her eyes weren't changing," said Arthur. "Why is that?"

"Says it reminds her of her mother," said Moody, his shoulders slightly tense, but enough that Arthur noticed. "Changes her hair with her mood because she's Moody and it reminds her of me. Her words not mine."

This time, Arthur failed to hide his grin, earning him a down right death glare from the Ex-Aruror but all it did was widen the grin.

"Anyway," growled Moody, "she's not a registered Metamorphmagus because it's not mandatory. She not going to be putting her name on list to attract more attention then she needs."

"And you're going to take her to get her supplies, I suppose? Bloody reporters are going to have a field day," said Arthur, sighing. "Please try not to permanently maim any of them again."

Moody huffed and mumbled something along the lines of 'no promises' before discussing the last few details of Alice's schooling. He wasn't pleased it had come so soon but he knew she would be safe with Albus at Hogwarts. Not that he was any less paranoid then usual.

"Don't worry, my boys will watch out for her," said Arthur. "Bill made Headboy this year, and Charlie is a Prefect."

Moody made a grunting noise but made no comment. He waited until Arthur disappeared in a wave of green flames before letting out a sigh and casting several protection wards on his fireplace. Then, with a small head shake, he climbed the stairs, his wand in his hand, and very slowly made his way down the hall.

Moody didn't have to open Alice's door to know what she was doing. He didn't even need to use his magical eye that could see through walls along with invisibility cloaks and things of that nature. She was doing what she was always doing when she knew he was coming to talk to her: waiting to attack.

"Constant- hey, not fair!"

A crackle escaped Moody when his daughter crossed her arms and pouted at him. It was a fairly comical scene since she was hanging upside down by her ankle thanks to a wordless Levicorpus spell.

"Life isn't fair, how many times do I have to tell you that?" Moody snapped, finally ending his laughing. He still looked quite amused, however.

With a over dramatic flop, the now purple hair girl landed on her bed.

"At least eleven more times, maybe twelve," said Alice, giggling as her father rolled his eyes, something that any sane person would have found hilarious (after all, both eyes rolled in the opposite direction). "So when do we get to go to Diagon Alley?"

"After your birthday," said Moody, sitting next to his daughter on the bed.

"But that's a full month away!" Alice whined, her hair darkening in distraught.

"And?"

Alice looked at her father with a death glare to match his own but, unfortunately, a death glare on a soon-to-be eleven year old was more amusing then it was frightening.

"Are you going to help me make dinner or what?" said Moody, the corner of his lips twitching towards a smile.

"I don't know, are you going to accuse me of poisoning the soup again?" snapped Alice back playfully.

"It was the sauce," corrected Moody, "and why? Are you planning on poisoning the food?"

Alice mumbled something on the lines, 'now I am'. Needless to say Moody went down to the kitchen himself to cook. He loved his daughter dearly but he never really had trusted anyone when it came to his food, not since he became an Auror anyways. He knew he was paranoid but he couldn't help it. You fight in a war against dark magic in which you literally lose almost everyone you find important (not to mention an eye, a leg, the tip of your nose, and part of your vocal cords), and come tell him to stop being suspicious of everything.

"You want spaghetti?" he barked up the stairs.

"Yes please!" Alice shouted in reply.

Moody grunted before getting to work. He was going to miss Alice when she went off to Hogwarts. Why wouldn't he? She was his daughter and the last thing he had of Lily. Just the thought of her getting hurt distracted him enough to over fill his pot with water.

"Bloody..." he said gritting his teeth. With a wave of his wand the mess was cleaned and he continued his work.

He didn't know what he was going to do when Alice was at school. It hadn't occurred to him that he be spending a great deal of time alone without her coming home after school everyday. He might have to get a job, not that he needed the money, he was after all, a Moody, the greatest line of Pureblood Aurors the Wizarding World had ever seen. Of course he had money, but Moody wasn't very good at doing nothing.

"Is the food done yet?" Alice called from the top of the stairs.

"Just about," Moody shouted back. "Come set the table."

The sound of feet pattering down the stairs made Moody smile and when Alice entered the kitchen cautiously his smile turned to a full fledge grin.

"Hurry up, will you?" he said.

Grinning, Alice grabbed the plates and set the table. She had begun to hum patiently while Moody carried the two bowls of food over to the table. He made their plates and Alice lifted her eyebrow.

"What?" Moody asked, seeing the look his daughter was giving him.

"Where's my food? All I see is a mountain of noodles covered with meatballs the size of dragon eggs."

"You need to eat more," said Moody sitting down. Alice did the same, disappearing from her father's view thanks to the height of the food on her plate and the fact that she was very short.

"How am I suppose to eat all this?" grumbled Alice.

"With a fork," grunted Moody before digging into his meal. So he might not be good at making the right portions when it came to food but at least it wasn't poisoned.

"If I eat all this can we go to Diagon Alley tomorrow?" said Alice, reappearing from behind her food once she sat on her feet but just barely.

"Sure," mumbled Moody, not even looking up from his food. There was no way she was going to finish the well described mountain of spaghetti he had made her but watching her stuff her face with gusto was very entertaining. One thing was for sure, Lily would kill him if she saw how poor her table manners were.

"Come on Allie, you're going to get sick," chuckled Moody thirty minutes later.

"But I'm halfway done," mumbled Alice, looking a little green.

"It's time for bed," said Moody, removing the plate from under his daughter's nose.

"Okay, dad," yawned Alice, her hair turning a shiny silver. She gave her father a sluggish hug before saying, "I love you."

"I love you too, kiddo," said Moody, smiling once more. He watched her disappear up the stairs to go to bed, his smile slowly fading into a frown.

It was official. He was going to be miserable while Alice was at Hogwarts.

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Ta da! Chapter 2 down, so many more to go!

Thank you **Nanettez**, guest, and **Calliope29** for your reviews!

please review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Quick disclaimer, I own nothing, nor am I paid for anything.

**Warning**: There is a Mad-Eye Moody in this chapter (yes of course he gets his own warning) and a vicious Puffskein. I am not responsible for any giggling, laughing, screaming, or cursing that follows after or during your reading of this chapter...

So enjoy chapter 3!

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Chapter 3  
July 31, 1988

Alastor Moody was not a patient man. He grew agitated and paranoid when things took longer then he thought they should. He was famous for canceling appointments that were more then a day later, sometimes even just a few hours, in the belief it left others too much time to plan an attack. When he ordered food, not that he did anymore, if he thought it was taking too long to make, he wouldn't eat. And Merlin forbid someone was ever late to see him. Yes, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody was not a patient man. Unfortunately, neither was his daughter.

"MAD-EYE!" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs at exactly four fifteen in the morning on the thirty-first of July.

No more then three seconds later, if even that long, her door was blown off its hinges and several painful looking curses were cast wildly into her room, sending a mess of mattress, stuffing, and plaster all over the place.

"Alice!" shouted Moody. His daughter was nowhere in sight.

"Did you have to blow up my bed? Those were my favorite sheets," grumbled a voice from behind the closet door. Seconds later, they opened and a girl with neon blue hair slowly turning blonde appeared. It was Alice, of course, still in her pajamas but looking very awake and amused.

One could not say the same for Alastor Moody.

"WHY THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU SCREAMING AT FOUR IN THE FUCKING MORNING?" howled Moody, both the feeling of relief that his daughter was okay and the feeling of anger that his daughter was okay filling his eye.

"'Cause it's my birthday and you said we'd go to Diagon Alley today," said Alice as if the fact her father was fuming wasn't a new thing.

"SO YOU SCREAMED?" he barked harshly.

Alice shrugged her shoulders.

"It was a hell of a lot safer then waking you up by knocking on your door."

Moody tried very hard to stay mad at Alice, he really did, but the girl had a point. Shaking his head and rubbing his temple, he told her to meet him down stairs after she had changed for breakfast.

Once Moody had left, Alice grinned wildly. She was going to go to Diagon Alley today, her birthday! She was ecstatic! It would be the first time she had made any contact with the Wizarding World for as long as she could remember. Then, in a months time, she would be off to school with kids her own age with magic just like her! How could she not be ecstatic?

Thankfully, Alice's dresser had been spared the destruction most of her things had suffered and she was easily able to find clothes to wear. She changed fast, knowing full well that her father was not a patient man, before hurrying down the stairs. She entered the kitchen cautiously, half expecting Moody to cast a jinx at her and scream "Constant Vigilance!" like he did most morning. Instead she was greeted by a death glare, her father already sitting at the table. Evidently, Moody did not like being woken up, something Alice already knew but found hilarious to do anyway.

"Morning," Alice said, smiling. She took her seat before examining her plate.

"Morning," Moody grunted back before picking up the Daily Prophet. He started reading it with his real eye while his magical eye continued to glare at Alice.

Finding her pancakes safe, Alice began to eat, making especially sure to make faces at her father when ever the blue eye fell on her.

"Chew with your mouth close," ordered Moody, earning him a grin filled with blueberry pancakes.

"Yes, mum," teased Alice and Moody snorted. "When are we leaving?"

"Seven-o-clock."

"But that's ages from now!" cried Alice her hair turning green and purple.

"That's why we weren't going to wake up at four in the bloody morning," Moody snipped back. "You could go back to sleep if it wasn't for the fact that we have to buy you a new bed now."

"You were the one who came in shooting hexes out as if there was no tomorrow," Alice grumbled, her hair settling at a forest green.

Moody smirked and rolled his eyes at his daughter, earning him a giggle. The two spent the next few hours in a comfortable silence, Alice preparing for what she saw as the most important day in her eleven years and Moody reading the paper. Finally it was six fifty-three and Alice couldn't wait any longer.

"Can we go now, please!" she begged, jumping high enough so both Moody's eyes could see her from behind the paper. "Please, please, please!"

"Alright," grumbled Moody. Alice let out a squeal before hugging her father.

"Finally! I'll be good... probably," said Alice grinning her hair such a bright yellow it was nearly blinding.

"We can't go until you control your hair," said Moody. "Not everyone needs to know you're a Metamorphmagus, Allie."

"Oh yeah," said Alice. Her hair instantly shifted to a light brown color. "Now can we go?"

Laughing at his daughter's excitement, Moody couldn't help but feel entertained. He knew she only had a few years left in her childhood, far less then all the other children her age anyway, so he enjoyed seeing her act her age every once in a while. Even though when Alice acted her age is when she usually ended up in trouble.

With a pop, the two apparated to the alleyway next to the Leaky Cauldron in London.

"Wow," whispered Alice, taking her father's hand. "There's a lot of people in London."

"Wait 'till you see Diagon Alley," said Moody with a snort.

It was a rare sight for the patrons at the Leaky Cauldron to see Mad-Eye Moody but even rarer for them to see him bring someone with him- especially if that person was none other then the Girl Who Lived.

"Alastor," said the bartender. He was slowly balding, and looked to be rather old for a man working at a bar.

"Tom," Moody grunted back.

It hadn't occurred to Alice until then that all eyes were on her instead of her father. It was a new thing, being the center of attention, when Moody's magical eye, missing nose, and metal leg called for a lot of attention and it was making Alice very uncomfortable.

"And this is-"

"It is," said Moody cutting the bartender off.

The air in the Leaky Cauldron could be cut with a knife with how tense it was. The way people were gawking at her and whispering her name, even though she never told them it, this made Alice even more uncomfortable and very agitated. Finally she couldn't take it any longer.

"What are you all staring at?" she snapped.

The Leaky Cauldron suddenly became completely still and silent.

"Let's go, Alice," said Moody, pulling his daughter out the back door into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.

"Is it going to be like that all the time?" asked Alice as her father started counting bricks on the wall, but either he was too distracted, which Alice doubted, or he just plain ignored her. "No wonder we stayed away so long."

Moody snorted, quite amused.

"Does that mean you want to go home?"

Alice shook her head no violently.

"Good, welcome to Diagon Alley, kiddo."

He tapped the wall three times with his staff. The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for a half-giant, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

Alice was grinning ear to ear, looking from her father to Diagon Alley and back again. Moody had never seen her more excited and it took all his strength not to smile with her. The last thing he needed was for a reporter to get a picture of him smiling. Parents around the world would be sending him howlers for causing their children to have nightmares.

They proceeded down the street silently, Alice's head on a constant swivel, soaking in her surroundings in awe.

"What's your supply list say?" said Moody, sending several threatening glares at anyone who dared looked at Alice longer then he found necessary. Alice unfolded the list and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL o f WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags  
COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ by Miranda Goshawk  
_A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot  
_Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling  
_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch  
_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore  
_Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger  
_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander  
_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Trimble  
OTHER EQUIPMENT  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set of glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope set  
1 brass scales  
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad  
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Alright," said Moody, stopping abruptly in the center of a fork in the road. He took a knee (his only knee), and looked at Alice. "I want you to got to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions up the street while I go deal with the bloody goblins."

Alice frowned. She had really been looking forward to seeing the goblins at the Wizard Bank called Gringotts. Moody didn't seemed to like them at all which only made her more curious about them. That and they were nitrous for being down right dreadful creatures to wizards and witches alike and Alice was very interested in dreadful and rude creatures.

"But-"

"No buts," said Moody. "I'll meet you at Madam Malkin's in a bit and if your good I'll let you choose a pet for your birthday."

Alice's eyes lit up with the mention of a pet. She hugged her father, earning them several looks from the bystanders, before running off towards the direction of the robe store. Unfortunately, the thing about running is it makes it very difficult to stop or in this case, avoid running into someone.

"Are you alright?"

Alice subconsciously let her hair turn bright, bubble gum pink in her embarrassment. Hovering over her with an arm out stretched to help her up was a young man with chocolate colored eyes and dark, shoulder length hair. When he grinned, Alice blushed before realizing her hair had changed colors. Scolding herself, she returned her hair to a light brown and accepted the helping hand in front of her.

"Nice hair, by the way," said the man still smiling.

"Thank you," said Alice cautiously. She had a strong desire to trust this man which only made her twice as cautious.

"First year, I'm guessing?"

Alice nodded.

"Got a name?"

"Do you?" said Alice, earning her a chuckle from the chocolate eyed man.

"You can call me Tony," he said still chuckling. "I'm guessing Hogwarts then? Great school, graduated from there only last year myself."

"Oh?" said Alice, her interest picking up. "Did you like it there?"

"Loved it," said the man called Tony. "You will too."

Alice grinned.

"My names Alice, by the way," she said. Tony smiled softly at her.

"Well, Alice," he said, "would you mind me walking you to whatever store it was you were in such a hurry to get to?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders before smiling at Tony.

"Will you tell me about Hogwarts?"

"But of course, Alice," Tony said, signaling for her to lead the way. They had a light conversation about Hogwarts' Houses and Tony guessed Alice would be a Gryffindor.

"What house were you in, Tony?" asked Alice as they reached Madam Malkin's. The dark hair man smiled before saying, "Hufflepuff, but I almost was put in Gryffindor myself."

The two waved goodbye to each other. It wasn't until Alice entered the shop did she realize that she would probably never see Tony again. It made her sad knowing the first friend she had made wasn't going to be apart of her life but her thoughts quickly returned to reality when she saw a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve walk out of the back of the store. It was safe to bet she was Madam Malkin.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said.

"Yes," said Alice, calmly. She didn't feel nearly as nervous as she had around Tony.  
Madam Malkin led her to the back of the store to a room full of mirrors. She stood Alice on a stool, slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length. It was a very quiet process, tailoring her robes, and the only noise made in the room was Madam Malkin, who was humming softly to herself, and the bustling noise coming from the street. When they were almost finished the bell on the door rung and moments later Moody entered the room.

"I'll be with you a moment sir," said Madam Malkin. Alice grinned at the fact she seemed unfazed by Moody's appearance. Then again she must see a lot of strange looking people in her line of work being the only robe store in London and all.

"Actually he's with me," said Alice.

Madam Malkin only smiled before finishing Alice's robe. Now Alice officially liked the woman. They paid her before making their way to a bookstore called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Alice was so absorbed with all the fascinating books around her, Moody practically had to drag her out of the store so they could get the rest of her supplies.

"We should get a library," Alice said while they bought the cauldron, brass scales, and collapsible brass telescope.

"Why would we get a library?" grumbled Moody as he handed the rude clerk the proper amount of money.

"So we would have room for more books," said Alice. She took the bag of supplies from the clerk, ignoring the stares she was receiving. After Flourish and Blotts she had become rather used to them. Even with her hair covering her scar, her father gave away who she was. Honestly, who else would be comfortable shopping with a man that looked like Moody other then his daughter?

"Right, we're going to find you a pet to bring to Hogwarts," said Moody. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at Alice's excitement as they entered Magical Menagerie.

The inside of the store was very cramped and noisy with every inch of the wall covered with cages. Much to Moody's dismay, Alice disappeared from his view the moment they went inside and if it wasn't for his magical eye he never would have found her discussing very determinedly with the store's salesman.

"I'm sorry, Miss, it's just not safe to let you hold it," he said for what Moody could only guess was the umpteenth time. "He's partially fanged, and I'm lucky enough that I don't have to put him down because of it."

"But he's perfect!" exclaimed Alice, trying her best to draw closer to the cage.

Moody peered over the salesman shoulder and laughed at what he saw. A creature spherical in shape covered in soft fur that was a custard color looked very harmless to Moody - that is - until the salesman's shoulder drew close enough to its cage. The once harmless looking, custard colored creature Moody realized was a Puffskein turned a violent green similar to a certain Metamorphmagus when she was angry before snapping viciously at the man's shoulder just barely glazing him.

"Ouch!" shouted the salesman. "See, dear, he's too dangerous to be your pet."

"Can't I at least try to talk to it?" begged Alice, using the benefits of being an adorable eleven year old.

Finally, the salesman let out a defeated sigh. He moved to the side, knowing Alice was too short to reach the creature's cage anyway, but stayed close incase something bad happened.

Alice walked right up to the partially fanged Puffskein's cage and cocked her head to the side. The Puffskein, much to the salesman's amazement and Moody's amusement did the same. Then she changed her hair to a soft custard color and the Puffskein changed its fur to the light brown Alice's hair had once been. Grinning Alice stuck her hand up towards the cage, the salesman was too shocked to stop her, and the Puffskein licked it with its long thin tongue before emitting a humming sound to show it was content.

Smiling, Alice turned to the salesman and said, "Now can I buy him?"

Moody couldn't help but to laugh as the salesman scrambled off to find Alice the proper cage for her new pet.

"He's perfect," whispered Alice, squeezing the pet cage to herself as they made their way to Ollivanders wand store.

Moody snorted, "And what exactly are you going to name the demon?"

"Well, I was think Maddy," said Alice. "You know, after you."

This time Moody did roll his eyes and Alice giggled.

The wand shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C_. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Moody sat in cautiously. Alice took a deep breath before placing her pet's cage next to Moody and moving farther into the room.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Alice jumped and Moody chuckled at her, earning him a growl from Maddy.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Alice slowly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Alice Moody." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Alice. Alice wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.

"Your father, on the other hand, well, he can tell you himself I suppose. Hello, Alastor."

Moody bowed his head politely.

"Ollivander," he said causally.

"Let's see," said Ollivander, now only inches from Alice's face. Alice could see herself reflected in those misty eyes.

"And that's where..."

Mr. Ollivander brushed the hair out of the way before he touched the lightning scar on Alice's forehead with a long, white finger.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

He shook his head.

"Hmmm," said Ollivander. "Well, now - Miss Moody. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Err- well, I'm left-handed," said Alice.

"Just like your father. Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Alice from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round her head, much to Moody's amusement. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Moody. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand. That's because the wand chooses the wizard, of course."

Alice suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between her nostrils, was doing this on its own. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Miss Alice. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."

Alice took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Ollivander snatched it out of her hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try-"

Alice tried but she had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Ollivander.

"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."

Alice tried. And tried. She had no idea what Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Alice took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand above her head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Moody grunted in approval and Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."

He put Alice's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..."

"Curious?," said Alice, "what's curious?"

Ollivander fixed Alice with his pale stare.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Moody. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar."

Alice looked at the man with an unreadable expression.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Miss Moody... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

A hand fell on Alice's shoulder making her jump. Moody was standing next to her defensively.

"Here's your seven Galleons, Ollivander," he said calmly, only the slightest hint of threatening in his voice. "We'll be going now. Come on, Alice."

"Yes, sir," said Alice. She broke her gaze on Ollivander to pick up Maddy and left as quickly as she could.

"Did you have fun?" asked Moody later that night when they arrived home.

"Uh huh," said Alice while she pulled Maddy out of her cage. "I'm going to sleep on the couch 'cause my rooms a little messy right now."

Moody snorted.

"Right," he said smiling. "Just keep that demon off the furniture."

"That demon has a name you know," snapped Alice before yawning. "And he isn't a demon. He's a misunderstood creature I named after you."

"What an honor," Moody mumbled, kissing his daughter's head before heading up the stairs- wand in hand.

"It's okay, Maddy," said Alice, snuggling her Puffskein closely. "Mad-Eye is just a butt. He means well though. I'm really lucky I've got him and now I've got you too. Life is pretty good."

Alice fell asleep to Maddy humming against her stomach, dreams about Hogwarts filling her head.

* * *

Another chapter that I hope gave you all an idea on Alice and Alastor's relationship.

Quick notes:

1. Alice knows she is the Girl Who Lived its just she doesn't understand the big deal about it because Moody raised her that way. She knows who her mother is and she knows that Black 'betrayed' them to Voldemort.

2. I'm not purposely making Moody OOC if he comes off that way. This is how I honestly think he would act as a father.

3. Puffskeins are real creatures in the HP series and if it wasn't for my sister, who conveniently is the reason anything strange happens in my stories, talking about the pink puffskein Luna owns I never would have thought about giving one to Alice. That and HP wikia is the best thing to look at when I'm bored.

Thank you **Calliope29, lexica1999, **and** Beau2809** for the reviews!

heres that color chart you wanted **Calliope29**!

Hair Color Emotion Chart  
**Blue**: all around scheming, devilish idea, plotting, and deep in thought hair color. Almost always followed by Gold/blonde  
**Gold/blonde**: entertained, happy, excited. The old saying blondes have more fun works here  
**Orange**: Curious  
**Green**: Warning- if you see Alice with dark green hair apologize quickly, if you see her with neon green hair run, run quickly  
**White/Silver**: sleepy, or sleeping (though usually her hair will turn brown in her sleep or whatever emotion she feels while dreaming)  
Pink: embarrassed  
**Purple/black**: bright purple is bored but as it darkens so do her feelings (stressed-purple, sad-dark purple, depressed/mournful- black)  
**Red**: a very Gryffindor color, don't you think? Bright red is her cocky hair color while normal red is her determined color and dark red, like her mother's hair, is for when she is concentrating or focusing.

Mixed colors such as green and purple are feelings inbetween the two colors. This is a mixture of sad and angry making distraught (frustrated is just green)

Anyway I hope that clears everything, please **_REVIEW_**!

DCF

* * *

I'm waiting for my internet to reboot. I've had two chapters done for awhile now but I only have internet on my phone. Grrrr.

I should be able to post on the 16th of June so hopefully you'll get a new chapter tomorrow!


	4. Chapter 4

FINALLY I have internet

Enjoy my children...

* * *

Chapter 4

The last month of the summer went by exceedingly fast for Moody and agonizingly slow for Alice. Alice spent the most of the time in her room, which Moody had fixed up with a few good repairing spells (though Alice's favorite sheets couldn't be saved), reading her school books. When she did come out it was only for food and her nose was still buried in a book. How she didn't run into walls would have been a mystery to Moody if it wasn't for the fact he used to make her walk around the house blindfolded when she was younger to see if she could survive in a blackout without a wand.

"How many eggs?" said Moody as Alice cautiously entered the kitchen.

"Three," she replied, her voice barely reaching his ears through the large leather copy of _Magical Drafts and Potions. _

When he placed her plate in front of her he was surprised to see her put her book down and look at him.

"Mad-Eye, I've been thinking," she started and Moody snorted.

"Merlin help me," he grumbled. He was all too aware of his green hair daughter glaring at him even without his magical eye.

"_Anyway_," Alice said. "I was just wondering what you were going to do while I was off at Hogwarts with Maddy."

The mere mention of its name seemed to lead to a thumping noise coming from the stairs followed by a custard colored fur ball rolling into the kitchen. It stopped at the foot of Alice's chair and looked up at its master with pleading, electric blue eyes, earning it a piece of bacon.

Grunting, Moody returned his attention to his daughter.

"Don't feed the demon bacon, Allie," he said.

Alice smiled.

"But Maddy likes the bacon, right Maddy?" said Alice and the Puffskein made a noise similar to a bark. "See? He's just like you."

"That demon is nothing like me," grumbled Moody. Maddy made a snort in agreement.

"Of course he is!" argued Alice. "Well, he's not as old, or paranoid, or-"

"Scarred?" offered Moody.

"Scars only mean you've lived an exciting life," replied Alice matter-of-factly. "Anyways, I was going to say grumpy. But you're both fun, protective, and family."

Moody rolled his eyes and Alice giggled, the soft, tender, family moment gone as quickly as it had come. They ate breakfast in silence before Moody spoke again.

"Tomorrow we are going to meet Arthur and his boys at King's Cross," he said and Alice nodded her head. "Have you packed your trunk?" Another nod. "All your, books, robes, telescope, cauldron?"

"Yes sir," said Alice smiling. She looked down at the book in her hand. "Well, besides this one, but I'm reading it right now. I'll put it up before I go to bed."

"Uh huh," said Moody. He knew full well that she would fall asleep reading it like she had the last few days. He wouldn't be surprised if she had memorized the entire thing by the time she got to Hogwarts. "Have you read anything else this summer?"

"Duh," said Alice.

Moody glared.

"I read _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ all last week," Alice corrected. "I read the other ones too, they're just not as interesting as the last two. I can't wait until potion class!"

Moody failed at suppressing his laughter. Alice lifted her eyebrow at him, her hair turning a bright orange only briefly, before returning to her book, occasionally petting Maddy as she read.

When tomorrow arrived, Alice woke up very early only to be disappointed to find Moody already awake. She had to put her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions in her trunk, Moody had been right about her falling asleep reading it, before helping Moody - watching really - make breakfast. When it was finally time to go, Moody took great pleasure in turning Maddy into a green plush pillow.

"Just tap the demon with your wand and he'll turn back," said Moody after they apparated to a dark alley next to King's Cross. The two walked slowly towards the platform, Moody pushing a trolley with Alice's trunk on it while Alice carried her Maddy-pillow.

"Do Arthur's sons look like him?" said Alice to Moody. They had been waiting outside the platform for several minutes and she was getting antsy while, what seemed for the first time ever, Moody looked patient. He of course knew the Weasleys were always late and would have been wary if they had shown up on time.

"What do you think?" said Moody. He gave a quick point to his left, never taking his real eye off his daughter.

Alice looked up in the direction Moody had pointed and failed to suppress her smile. A swarm of red heads, nine in total, were moving quickly towards them. Arthur was in the front of the swarm next to a woman Alice safely guessed was his wife, Molly. Holding onto both of Molly's hands were two children, an eight year old looking boy who seemed to see more hand-me-downs then anyone else in the family, and a little girl who's eyes grew as big as saucers when she saw Alice. Following behind them was a pair of twins in identical clothing and devious expressions. The only way Alice could tell them apart was the fact that one had beadier eyes and the other slumped his right shoulder a bit. Lastly, there were three older boys pushing trolleys in the back, two of which having owls while the youngest had a caged rat.

"Alastor, sorry we're late," said Arthur sheepishly. "We'a, well..."

"If you had been on time I would have been suspicious," grumbled Moody, all hints of him being a father gone. "These the three going to Hogwarts?"

He tilted his staff towards the three tallest Weasley boys.

"Ah, yes," said Arthur. He moved behind the three boys. "This one here is my eldest, Bill."

The tallest boy smiled and waved politely. He had the longest hair out of the seven children and seemed to blend in the best with the Muggle community except for a shiny silver badge he had pinned on his chest that said _Head Boy_.

Arthur moved over to the second tallest boy and said, "This is my second eldest, Charlie."

Charlie grinned before tipping an invisible hat. Ironically, his hair was the shortest out of all the Weasleys and it spiked at the front. His blue eyes had a look of mayhem to them but on his chest was a silver badge similar to his older brother's only it had a large purple P on it for Prefect.

The next son, and the one Arthur introduced as Percy, was eying his older brothers' badges enviously through his glasses and didn't notice his father say his name. He was very tall but also very thin and unlike the rest of his siblings he tried to carry himself in a respectable manner that only made him look ridiculous.

"Boys, this is Alice," said Arthur. "Alastor wants you three to keep an eye out for her while she's at Hogwarts."

"Oi! Aren't you going to introduce us too, dad?" said one of the twins, in a fake voice of offense.

"Yeah, we're your sons too," said the other. The two youngest just looked at Alice gaping.

"No time," said Arthur. "Your brothers have ten minutes to get on the train. Shall we?"

Alice and Moody allowed the Weasleys to pass through the barrier between platform nine and ten first, disappearing before their eyes through the stone wall.

"You might want to hurry before you miss the train, kiddo," said Moody as Molly pulled the last of the Weasley children through the barrier.

"Are you not coming to wave me goodbye?" asked Alice.

Moody shook his head.

"If people see me there they'll immediately know who you are," he said. "Don't want to make it impossible for you to make friends that know you for you and not your scar."

Alice nodded reluctantly, knowing her father was right. She was about to take her trolley when an idea popped in her head.

"Mad-Eye, there's some string in your hair."

"What?" Moody ran his hand very cautiously through his hair. "No there isn't."

"Yes there is," said Alice. "Let me get it."

Moody took a knee so Alice could get the string but instead was surprised when she gave him a hug.

"Just kidding," she said kissing his cheek. "Love you, dad."

Moody shook his head as he watched his daughter run off through the barrier. Just like her mother, she had a way at catching him off his guard.

Alice grinned at the sight before her. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven-o-clock. Alice's grin grew bigger at the sign with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. She had made it.

"There you are, Alice," said Arthur. He turned to his two oldest sons who were just exiting the train. "Charlie, Bill, help her with her trunk."

"Yes, sir," said Bill smiling.

"Anything for a damsel in distress," teased Charlie with a wink.

Alice giggled as she followed the two boys onto the train. They led her to an empty compartment with their trunks in it.

"You don't mind sitting with us, do you?" asked Bill as he helped his brother tuck the trunk under one of the rows of seats. "Percy is off talking to friends and we don't know where he is but you're welcome to sit with us."

"Just know we'll have to leave shortly before we get to Hogwarts," said Charlie, already sure Alice would say yes to sitting with them. "We have a Prefect meeting."

"Okay," said Alice with a genuine smile. She really liked the Weasley family so far.

"Excellent," said Charlie with a smile of his own. "We have to say goodbye to everyone real fast but we'll be back."

"Yes, try not to wreck anything while we're away," teased Bill and Alice stuck out her tongue at him.

"Definitely Gryffindor, that one," said Charlie, laughing before closing the compartment door.

Alice smiled before taking out her wand and tapping her pillow. Immediately, Maddy changed back to his usual fur ball form. He began to hum in content while Alice petted him, waiting for Bill and Charlie's return. She looked up when the compartment door began to open but was surprised to see a boy with ink black hair and tan skin standing in the doorway. He was the bipolar opposite of a Weasley in looks and, judging by the Slytherin robes he wore, in personality. He was holding a book, which surprised Alice who didn't think the boy looked like he read a great deal that was titled Quidditch Through the Ages.

"Who are you?" he snapped rudely. His eyes then fell on Maddy. "And what is that?"

Maddy growled and made a lunging motion only to be caught by Alice.

"This is Maddy," said Alice, defensively. "He's a Puffskein."

"Partially fanged I take it," said the boy, a look of disgust on his face. "Why is it green?"

"He doesn't like you," said Alice bluntly. "I don't either."

"Humph."

The boy turned around and left when the whistle sounded. Shortly afterwards, Bill and Charlie reentered the compartment. Charlie's eyes lit up at the sight of Maddy.

"Wow, a Puffskein!" he exclaimed rushing over to pet it.

Maddy bit his right hand which he stuck in his mouth to stop the bleeding before reaching for it with his left hand.

"Charlie, don't," said Bill grabbing his childish brother's arm. "It just bit you."

"But Bill," whined Charlie.

"Stop, you're acting like a child, Charles," said Bill.

Alice grinned at the sight of the fifth year pouting at his brother. Maddy must have found it amusing too, because he turned a brighter yellow before licking Charlie's wounded hand.

"See, it likes me," said Charlie, grinning ear to ear.

Bill sighed before sitting across from Alice and his younger brother.

"So you're really the Girl Who Lived?" he asked, causally.

Alice nodded.

"And you've got the - you know..."

He pointed at Alice's forehead.

Alice pulled back her bangs to show the lightning bolt scar. Bill and Charlie stared briefly before looking away.

"It must suck having that," said Charlie, his eyes fixated on Maddy while he petted him. "I mean, every time someone sees it they see the Girl Who Lived and not you."

Alice, surprised by the redhead's words, stared at him. Moody had told her all about when her mother died protecting her and how she had gotten her scar but she never understood why it was such a big deal. Evidently, neither did Charlie or Bill, or at least they didn't care when it came to her as a friend.

"What Charlie means is be careful who you befriend," said Bill, a smile on his face. "And stay away from Slytherins."

Alice laughed.

"Mad-Eye gave me similar advice," she said still laughing.

Just then, Percy Weasley came strolling into the compartment.

"Sorry I'm late," he said as if the three of them had been waiting on him. "I was trying to find Oliver to discuss our dorm arrangements. We can't have him covering the room with Quidditch decorations again this year."

He took a seat next to Bill and looked at Alice.

"So is Alastor Moody really your father?" he asked earning him a slap on the back of the head.

"Ignore our little brother if he ask any questions you're uncomfortable with," said Bill.

Percy, still rubbing the back of his head where Bill had hit him, said, "I'm not the only one who's curious you know. The Girl Who Lived goes missing right after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is destroyed and all that's left is a note saying she's with her father. People are going to ask questions."

Bill reeled his hand back for another slap but Alice beat him to it.

"Yeah, Mad-Eye is my dad," said Alice, "and do you really have to call him that? His name is Voldemort."

The three Weasleys all looked at her with pale expressions, Percy's being the worst.

"You can't just-" Percy started.

"Yes she can," said Charlie, regaining his composure. "We all can, we've just been raised to be to afraid to. Watch, Voldemort."

Percy paled again and Bill looked at his brother as if he was mad.

"What?" said Charlie, shrugging his shoulders.

Bill rolled his eyes and then under his breath whispered into Percy's ear, "Voldemort."

Alice couldn't help but to laugh as the second year ran out of the compartment mumbling that he had to talk Oliver, Bill and Charlie laughed along with her.

They spent the next two hours or so laughing and getting to know each other. Alice learned that Bill was a seventh year and had recently been offered a job in Africa working for Gringotts as a curse breaker, something only Bill and Charlie knew because their parents, more specifically their mother, wouldn't allow him to go. She also learned that Charlie was the Gryffindor Quidditch Seeker and was an extreme animal lover who planned on studying dragons after Hogwarts. They both seemed to have a good relationship with the Hogwarts' gamekeeper, Hagrid, who they both swore was half giant.

"Speaking of Gringotts," said Bill after Charlie finished telling Alice about his first Quidditch game. "Did you hear about the break-in? Someone tried to rob a high security vault."

"They're bloody mad, or were mad," said Alice. Moody had told her all about the goblins' security in their bank. Dragons, curses, and miles upon miles of tunnels some leading to nowhere just to keep people out. The likelihood of someone surviving a break-in was slim - not that you'd want to survive if the goblins caught you.

"That's the thing, they weren't caught whoever did it. Must have been a very powerful dark wizard though," said Bill scratching his chin. "Thing is, they didn't take anything, that's what's so odd about it."

"People think it has to do with old Voldie," said Charlie. Immediately after deciding the name was safe to say, the boy had turned it into something comical. "Always do with things like this."

Alice turned this news over in her mind. Moody had been called into Gringotts during the summer, ironically the day after he had visited it to get her money for school supplies, but she knew better then to suspect Moody. Even if it did irritate the goblins, he wouldn't have broken in the bank just for the fun of it which means they called him in to investigate and Moody was only ever called in when it was something that had to do with very dark magic.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" said a smiling, dimpled woman standing in the corridor.

Alice jumped to her feet while the boys mumbled something about sandwiches. She had a very bad sweet-tooth and Moody had given her plenty of money to fill it. She bought as much as she could carry of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange wizard candies before stumbling back in the compartment.

Bill and Charlie stared at her as Alice poured it all onto the empty seat next to Bill.

"Hungry little one," teased Charlie.

"Couldn't help it," said Alice with a grin. "Too many choices. Want some?"

At first the Weasley boys refused to take any of Alice's candy but when she started pelting them with Chocolate Frogs they gave in and helped her pig out.

It had gotten rather dark outside when the compartment door opened for the umpteenth time this trip. Two boys around Bill's age already dress in their Gryffindor school robes, though Alice doubted the way they were wearing them was within the school dress code, entered. The first had long, wavy, brown hair and dark green eyes while the second had black spiked hair with pale skin. They both looked at Bill, who currently looked pale after eating a vomit flavored bean, and laughed lightly.

"Go looking for the Head Boy and find him ill because of some bean, aye Duke?" said the first boy.

"Figures," said the second one called Duke, still chuckling.

"Hey boys," said Charlie, grinning. "What'dya want?"

"Like we said," said the first one. "We were looking for Willie over here. Head Boy is supposed to be holding a meeting in a few minutes with all the Prefects."

"Then why are you here, Myron?" said Bill, an eyebrow raised. "You're not a prefect and neither is Duke."

"I take offense to that, sir!" exclaimed Myron sarcastically. "I could have been a prefect if I had applied myself, hell, I could have been Head Boy if it wasn't for the fact-"

"You didn't want to?" hinted Charlie, telling Alice this was a usual conversation.

"Funny, Charlie," said Myron then his eyes fell on Alice. He lifted a curious brow. "Who's the girl, boys? Not your sister, obviously, no red hair."

"Oh, this is Alice," said Bill, standing up and stretching. "Alice this is Myron Wagtail and his sister Kirley Duke."

"Aye!" said Duke, evidently insulted by being called a girl.

Alice giggled.

"You'd two would make weird sisters," she said. The two boys exchanged looks that told Alice an idea had come to them simultaneously. "Should that look worry me?"

"Nah," said Charlie. "It just means they've got an evil idea, or genius idea if you ask them. Don't worry, me and Bill see it a lot. Hey, you change in here while we watch the corridor, okay?"

Alice nodded and Bill, Charlie, Myron, and Duke went into the corridor. When she finished changing into her school robes, Bill told her Myron and Duke were going to keep her company while Charlie and him went to the Prefect meeting at the front of the train. Once they were gone, Duke broke into questions.

"So Alice," he said keeping his distance from Maddy who had already tried to bite him, "what house do you think you're going to be in?"

"I don't know," said Alice with a shrug. "Everyone says I'll be a Gryffindor and it sounds like the best house but I'm not sure which one I belong in."

"Well, what house were your parents in?" asked Myron. He had decided Duke could suffer sitting on the floor, not that Duke cared, and laid down on the entire bench across from Alice.

"My mom was Gryffindor but I don't know what house my dad was in," said Alice.

"What do you mean, don't know?" said Duke, chewing on a Licorice Wand. "He not tell you?"

"Nope."

Both boys raised an eyebrow. Finally Myron spoke.

"Why?"

"He thinks that if people know what house he was in it will give away his weaknesses so only him and Albus know," said Alice. She was petting Maddy for what felt like hours before either boy spoke again, though speaking might not be the right term.

"No bloody way!" exclaimed Duke. He was grinning as if Christmas had come early and Myron had a similar look.

"Your Moody's kid, aren't you?" said Myron in a quieter voice. Evidently he wasn't too stupid because he could tell Alice was uncomfortable with his friend's outburst.

"Yep."

Myron started laughing and Duke joined in. Their laughter so contagious Alice joined in too.

"You'll be Gryffindor for sure then," said Myron once his laughter subsided. "Slytherins would have been braggin' 'bout who they were and a Ravenclaw would have come up with some elaborate an' unnecessarily long story to pretend you's wasn't you. Don't ask me what a Hufflepuff would have done, they just wouldn't have been as, well, they wouldn't have dealt with the situation the same way."

"You really think so?" asked Alice.

"Yeah!" said Duke, his voice still louder then necessary. "If you don't believe us, wait until the Sorting Hat tells you."

"Wait, I'm sorted by a hat?" said Alice as the train slowed.

"Yeah, McGonagall drops it on your head and it reads your thoughts and stuff," said Duke, standing up. "Learns everything about you before sorting you where you belong. Took it three seconds to sort me."

Duke was grinning at his last comment and didn't notice Alice's eye grow as big as saucers. Myron had but he thought it was out of surprise when the voice filled the train saying: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Myron and Duke waved goodbye before disappearing down the corridor, leaving Alice to panic alone. She reluctantly placed Maddy in his cage before she started pacing. She had no idea there was going to be a mind-reading hat involved in her sorting.

"What am I going to do?" she mumbled to herself as she exited the train with the rest of the Hogwarts students. She was pulled away from her thoughts when a big, booming voice filled the air.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Alice looked to her left and spotted a man twice the size of any of the seventh years. He had thick, bushy, dark brown hair that tangled into his identical bush beard and eyebrows but a warm smile hidden behind all that hair. Instantly, Alice knew this was Hagrid the kind half giant Charlie and Bill were friends with.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Carefully, Alice followed Hagrid and the other first years down a steep, narrow path. It was so dark, even Alice had trouble watching her step and nearly fell twice.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

Alice let her mouth hang open at the sight in front of her. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. It was the most magnificent thing Alice had ever seen.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Alice climbed into a boat with two boys before a blonde, curly hair girl joined them.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"

The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Alice walked up a flight of stone steps with the others and joined the crowd of first years that stood around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?"

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. Alice held her breath and waited.

* * *

Special thanks to **Beau2809**! I love your reviews because you always catch whatever I miss. So to answer your questions:

1. Alice can't have Hedwig, well she can I just don't want her to, because even though she's following the story of HP she is not Harry. She needed a pet like her *cough Maddy cough* and Hogwarts already has owls, and so does Moody, so she didn't need one. And as for the 'isn't it just owls, cats, and toads', did you forget a certain nine toed rat? :P

2. The question on the bed was answered in the chapter.

3. My beta, (my thirteen year old sister with a grammar obsession) missed the mess up on the name. I have another HP fanfic about a girl called Alexis and she reads them both so she and I both missed it. Our bad, hope you didn't get too confused. I'm going to fix it (or have it already depends on when you read this note)

4. Alice very rarely calls Moody dad and usually calls him Mad-Eye to get his attention. When she does call him dad it's going to be during touching, cute, it's-so-adorable-I'm-going-to-throw-up-rainbows moments. When she was young of course she called him papa but she grew out of it (I mean, I called my dad that until I was like six before I thought it was weird).

5. Well if calling someone butt is Americanism I'm terrified to know what Canadianism is (you're a bum, aye). Please don't flame me for that, I got permission from my Canadian bud. ANYWAY *insert apology for horrible jokes here* I have no idea what the Scottish, because Moody's Scottish, insult that would be equal to an eleven year old American girl's insult. Sorry.

6. I'll try to quit with the random questions too, thanks for the advice!

Also, thank you **Calliope29** for your review and I'm glad you're excited to see what happens next (I am too).

**Nanettez**, thanks for the review and like I side earlier, I fixed that but thanks for telling me.

**emeralds01** I'm glad you read the short drabble! I'm sure the outline is a lot funnier then the real story but I'm making every scene you read end up in the Alice L Moody series so you secretly know what's coming (a blessing and a curse). You also probably already know who Tony is too ;-)

Thanks for reading every one, and if you can tell me who Myron's gang is before the day is over I will post another chapter. "Because I am a merciful lord" ;-P

Please REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5

Unlike good old Voldie, I was serious when I said I was a merciful lord so without further ado, Chapter 5

enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5

Sorting Ceremony

Alice let out her breath. Standing in front of her and in between the two, now wide open, castle doors was a familiar face. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes who Alice knew as Minerva, an old friend of Moody's she had met a few years ago but had no idea worked at Hogwarts, looked out at the crowd of students and nodded at Alice ever so slightly before turning to Hagrid.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Minerva McGonagall motioned for the first years forward into the entrance hall. For the second time that night, Alice's jaw hung open at what she saw. The entrance hall was so big, Alice was sure her whole house could fit in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

Alice followed along with her fellow classmates after Minerva across the flagged stone floor. She could hear hundreds of muffled voices through the doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but Minerva showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. Alice followed the rest of the first years inside and began to feel claustrophobic because how close she had to stand next to everyone. Her hand fell to her wand and her mind wondered over a few spells she had read about over the summer. If anyone tried anything she would be ready to practice them on them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Minerva. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on a group of boys to Alice's left, one of which had Chocolate Frog smeared on his face and the other had his cloak on sideways.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber.

"How do they sort us anyway?" whispered a girl behind Alice.

The mere mentioning of the Sorting reminded Alice of what Duke had said on the train. A hat, a magical hat, was going to read her mind, see her memories, and know her feelings. She would not let that happen.

Suddenly several people behind Alice screamed.

"Ghost!"

Alice turned around and laughed. Of course there would be ghost at Hogwarts. A school doesn't exist for nearly a thousand years without a few deaths. These particular ghosts, however, were completely oblivious to the fact there were students in the room they had just entered and continued to bicker with each other.

What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we've ought to give him another chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost -"

The conversation was abruptly ended when the two ghost disappeared through the wall. Someone cleared their throat and all the first years, who had currently been gaping at the wall the two ghost had walked through, snapped their heads forward. Minerva stood before them.

"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start. Now, line up," Minerva said to the first years, "and follow me."

Very cautiously, Alice followed Minerva with the rest of her classmates out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Alice was too nervous about her Sorting to let her jaw drop for the third time that evening even though the Great Hall was a sight to see. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering gold plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Minerva led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, the teachers behind them.

Instantly, Alice caught sight of Bill and Charlie, who were both grinning at her. Next to them sat Myron and Duke, both of who were pointing her out to five other younger boys. When Myron caught her eye he grinned before sticking his hand in the air, his index finger and pinky extended. Duke and the five other boys mimicked the hand gesture and Alice fought off a grin but settled with a smile. She looked up at the ceiling and saw a velvety black sky dotted with stars.

"I bet it's bewitched to look like the outside," whispered the blonde, curly hair girl from the boat ride.

Alice wasn't going to question it, even though Moody would reprimand her for not questioning it, but it was beautiful.

She looked down when she heard Minerva quietly place a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of it was a patched, frayed, and extremely dirty looking hat Alice safety deduced was the Sorting Hat. Immediately, Alice increased her shields and tried to slow her breathing the moment the hat broke out into song. She didn't listen to it, she was far to nervous about fight off its mind reading abilities that she didn't even notice her hair slowly darkening to a red color. Thankfully, no one else did either, or at least they didn't say anything if they had.

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Minerva stepped forward holding a long roll of paper.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said and started reading off names.

Alice watched but payed little attention to her classmates as they were sorted. She did, however, pay attention when the girl with the blond, curly hair was called forward.

"Clearwater, Penelope!"

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat. The table on the far right cheered and clapped as the girl went to sit at the Ravenclaw table.

"Diggory, Cedric!"

One of the boys she had rode in the same boat with, a brown hair boy with misty grey eyes, walked forward and took a seat on the stool. Seconds later the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Alice watched nervously, her hair officially a violent dark red like her mother's, as more and more students were called forward. A dark skinned girl with dreadlocks named Angelina Johnson was the first sorted into Gryffindor and by far received the loudest applause. Alice smiled but far too soon Minerva reached the M's on the list.

"Moody, Alice!"

As Alice stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like lightning all over the hall.

"Moody, did she say?"

"_The_ Alice Moody?"

"The Girl Who Lived? Here?"

Swallowing, Alice took a seat on the stool. Minerva dropped the Sorting Hat over her eyes and the fight began.

"_All right, girl_," said a small, amused voice in her ear. "_You can drop your shields now. I can't sort you with them up._"

Alice shook her head and the hat laughed.

"_No seriously, girl. I can't sort you with all these walls._"

Alice shook her head again.

"_Drop the shields, now_."

When Alice shook her head again the hat started to get angry.

"_Let me read your mind!_"

Alice's hair turned bright green as the hat began to anger her. He continually pushed at her walls and she pushed him back just as roughly. When the hat began to curse Alice's hair flashed blond in amusement, blue briefly as a plan to keep him out formed, and back to red as she concentrated hard on keeping the hat out of her thoughts.

"_I need to read you mind, girl,_" hissed the hat. Alice shook her head vigorously, her shields on high. "_Bloody hell, girl, I need to sort you!_"

More cursing ensued, only this time loud enough that even the farthest student from the front could hear it. Somehow, though it will remain a mystery to everyone other then Alice and the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore heard the hat say Gryffindor and announced it for the rest of the hall while Minerva reprimanded the Sorting Hat.

A roar of cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table, Myron and his gang being the ones actually roaring while everyone else just cheered loudly, as Alice, who's hair was finally changing back to light brown from its current dark red, hurried down towards it. She took a seat between Charlie and Myron, across from Bill.

"We got the Girl Who Lived!"

"Finally," said Alice. "Damn hat kept trying to make me lower my shields. Ha! Not on your life!"

The boys barked in laughter, ignoring the fact that the sorting had continued.

"Leave it to a Moody to argue with a Sorting Hat," teased Bill.

"Yeah," said Duke, "I've never heard such language. I'm going to haff' ta try some of dem words later."

The table erupted with laughter again, only this time slightly quieter (Minerva was giving them dirty looks which only got worse when Myron winked at her). Then Myron introduced his crew.

"This is Donaghan Tremlett, we call him Don," he said pointing to a sixth year with long brown hair he kept out of his face with a ponytail. Then he pointed to a fourth year with a buzz cut. "This is Orsino Thruston, call him Thrust. Next we've got Heathcote Barbary, call him Bars for short," a fourth year with a toothy smile waved at Alice, "and then we got Herman Wintringham, Herms," a blonde boy winked at her, "and lastly we've got Gideon Crumb."

The curly hair fourth year Myron pointed out as Gideon grunted at her, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Blasted- when are they going to be done? I'm hungry!" he said, earning a few snickers.

Finally, the last first year, Cassius Warrington, was called forward and sorted into Slytherin. Only then did Albus Dumbledore get to his feet. He beamed at all the students, his arms wide open, as if nothing could have pleased him more then seeing them all there.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

He sat back down and everybody clapped and cheered. The boys, more specifically Myron and Duke, jumped to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.

"Bloody mad, he is!" said Duke, sitting back down.

"Mad?" said Myron. "Mad! The man is a genius, a revolutionist! An artist!" Alice failed to hold back her laughter earning her a playful wink before Myron continued. "He is the all powerful, Albus Dumbledore!" there was dramatic pause before Myron shrugged his shoulders, "of course he's mad. Potatoes, Alice?"

Alice looked at her plate and grinned. The dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She looked at it longly: the roast beef, the roast chicken, the pork and lamb chops, the sausages, the bacon, the steak, the potatoes (every kind, sweet, mashed, boiled, cooked etc.), the peas, the corn, and the carrots. It hadn't occurred to her how hungry she was until then. Immediately she started checking her food before devouring it like a savage beast.

"What ya do that for?" asked Thrust.

"Yeah, wha's up?" added Bars.

"What do you mean?" said Alice as she swallowed a monster bite of mashed potatoes.

"You were examining your food as if it could of been poisoned," said Herms.

"And you didn't?" asked Alice. The look all nine boys told her they didn't.

"Should we?" asked Don, lowering his lamb chop.

"Guys, relax," said Charlie. "Alice here is Mad-Eye's kid, remember? Constant Vigilance?"

There was a murmur of "oh yeah" and "wicked" before the boys returned to their food. Conversation didn't pick up until after they had all had their fill of devouring, apparently Alice wasn't the only person who ate like a rabid werewolf, and when it did it was Myron speaking.

"So, darling," he said with another one of his winks, "you're going to help us beat Slytherin for the house cup, right? They've won three bloody years in a row now."

"Yeah, they've become very smug about it too," said Bill.

"Oi! They're always smug, Bill," snorted Gideon, between bites of steak.

"If Duke here," said Don, pointing at Duke with a chicken bone, "can do his job and get us a new Keeper and Chaser, our chances will at least be mediocre."

"Mediocre, is it?" laughed Duke. "Been reading your Muggle dictionary again, Don?"

"Go to hell, Duke," Don snapped back.

"Boys, boys, language," said Myron. "We've got a youngster present."

"Well that's not very nice," said Alice, her hair turning a devious blue, "Charlie isn't that young."

The group erupted with laugher once more just as dessert appeared. Once more, Alice examined her food before eating it.

"So how is Meg, Duke?" said Myron, earning him a few wolf whistles. Alice grinned when his ears went red but he kept his composure.

"Good, she got signed to mum's old team, Pride of Portree this summer," said Duke, who's ears had also gone red.

"So are you dating Duke's older sister?" asked Alice bluntly. The table fell deathly silent. Alice was sure Myron was about to explode if he held his cool composure any longer so she quickly changed the subject. "Are you the Quidditch Captain, Duke?"

"Um, yeah," said Duke. He gave Myron a sideways glance before looking back at Alice. "Charlie there is our Seeker, has been since second year. Right Charlie?"

"Right," said Charlie who was also giving Myron a sideways glance.

"Why do they keep looking at you?" asked Alice, getting a little frustrated by her new friends weird actions.

Myron, however, seemed to have fixed whatever problem he was having and said, "'Cause I'm gorgeous, darling. Why else?"

The table laughed once more and continued eating. Bill was talking to Don about Prefect duties (evidently Don was the only Prefect in Myron's group), while Mryon and Duke were discussing names for a band they were starting. Thrust, Bars, and Herms were all cheering Gideon on as he downed his eighth bowl of ice cream. Alice looked up at the teacher's table. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Minerva and Albus were having a privet conversation. Two teachers Alice had never seen before were also talking. The first was a very pale man with nearly grey blue eyes wearing a purple turban. The second was a man with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.

Suddenly, the hooked nose man looked pass the man in the purple turban and straight into Alice's eyes. A sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Alice's forehead.

Biting her lip, Alice looked away and rubbed her forehead carefully.

"What's wrong, Al?" asked Duke.

"Not, 'women problems' is it?" asked Myron. The older boys laughed but Charlie and younger chuckled uncomfortably at the joke.

"It's nothing," said Alice.

The pain had gone as quickly as it had came. What hadn't gone was the feeling Alice had felt when she looked at the hooked nosed man- a feeling that Alice knew wasn't good.

"Who are those two teachers up there?" she asked the boys. "The one in the turban and the one with the greasy hair."

Myron snorted, "He does have greasy hair, doesn't he?"

"The guy in the turban is Professor Quirrell. He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Don.

"Not sure how good he'll be though," said Bars.

"Yeah, look at him stuttering up there," said Herms.

"Well, look who he's bloody talking to," added Thrust.

"I don't know that many people who wouldn't be stuttering talking to Snape, myself including," said Gideon who immediately took a fork full of pie afterwards.

"Snape?" said Alice.

"Yeah, the guy with the hook nose," said Duke. "That's Professor Snape. He teaches potions but he's been after Quirrell's job as long as I can remember."

"Mind you," said Bill, "that isn't very long."

Again the table was filled with laughter. When they stopped, the dessert disappeared, much to Gideon's dismay, and Albus got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Albus's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of Myron and his gang.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

The boys laughed, but they were the only ones who did. Both Alice and Bill took his words seriously.

"He's not serious, Bill?" said Myron.

"He is," said Bill. "It was one of the things we talked about durning the Prefect meeting. No one is allowed near that corridor, not even me."

And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Albus. Alice let out a giggle when she saw all the other teachers force smiles on their faces.

Albus gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Albus, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

Everyone finished the song at different times. At last it was only Myron and Duke singing while the rest of the gang used their silverware as instruments. Albus conducted their last few lines, a very impressive feet seeing the notes the two boys were hitting, with his wand and was one of those who clapped the loudest, though everyone was clapping loudly (Myron and Duke could sing!), when they finished.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes and making Alice laugh again. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Alice followed Bill and Charlie along with the rest of the Gryffindor first years through the chattering crowds, out the Great Hall, and up the marble staircases. She grinned at the moving portraits and giggled at the sleeping ones as they climbed more and more staircases. She had only just gotten curious about when they would reach their destination when they came to a sudden halt.

A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them.

"Don't mean to panic you all," said Bill, practically drowning in his smile, "but Peeves, our schools very own prankster and poltergeist, is holding a bundle of walking sticks right in front of us."

"Now," said Don, taking over, "this may not worry any of you firsties, but it should. Isn't that right Peevie?"

There was a pop, and a boy around Bill's age with wicked, orange eyes, white skin, and a mouth that seemed to be permanently stuck in a sinister grin appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

"Rightie, tightie, ickle Tremlett," he said with an evil crackle. "Oooooooh! Ickle Firsties! What fun!"

He swooped suddenly at them but before he could reach them Bill and Don pointed their wands at him. He froze in swoop, a layer of blue light covering his body.

"Charlie," said Bill, grinning foolishly, "if you wouldn't mind leading our 'Ickes Firsties' up to the Common Room while Don and I deposit Mr. Peeves in the dungeons so he can bother some snakes."

"Of course, Bill," said Charlie. He was also grinning foolishly. "Follow me 'Ickle Firsties', Common Room is just up here."

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman dressed in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Nolite Timere," said Charlie, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor Common a Room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

"Girls' dorms are on the left, boys' on the right," Charlie said.

The group broke apart and head towards their respected dormitories. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last. Alice did a quick inspection of the bed that her trunk had been placed at the foot of before changing into her pajamas and crawling into her bed.

"Can't believe I'm finally here," whispered the dark skinned girl from earlier. Alice remembered her name was Angelina. She was going to agree with her but quickly found herself fast asleep, Maddy, who had evidently escaped his cage, snuggling up against her, humming.

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No Moody in this chapter (I'm sorry, I miss him already) but you did get to meet the rest of Myron's gang. Those few firsties named are going to be important later. So far the only created character in this story is Alice Moody so everything else (minus the story) is owned by J.K. Rowlings.

thanks **Calliope29** for the review and I hope you weren't disappointed by what house she ended up in.

Please REVIEW! It inspires me!


	6. Chapter 6

Been pretty busy so I haven't had the proper time to revise this chapter (not that I'm very good at revising them in the first place) but I hope you all like it.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 6

Alice woke up to the sound of someone humming - not Maddy - but a person humming. Immediately, she jumped to her feet, sending poor Maddy flopping to the end of her bed, and the humming girl squeaking.

"Don't do that!" whispered the girl from last night.

Alice smiled sheepishly at her.

"Sorry, force of habit. You're Angelina, right?"

The girl let out a groan, "Ugh, I hate my name. Please, call me Angie or Ang, I'm even okay with Johnson, just please don't call me Angelina."

"Angie it is," said Alice with a smile. "I'm Alice Moody."

"Hi, Alice," said Angie. "I'm going to head down to breakfast, now. Want to come?"

Alice smiled but declined politely. She still had to get ready for her first day. Once Angie disappeared down the stairs, she quickly began getting ready. She packed her satchel full of all her textbooks, quills, and ink bottles, changed into her school robes, and fed Maddy before heading down the spiral staircase to the Common Room.

"There she is," said Myron once her foot hit the bottom step. Inside the Common Room sat Myron's whole gang along with Bill and Charlie.

"Morning, Al," teased Charlie.

"Morning, Charlie," Alice turned to the group of boys stealing all the seats, "morning, boys."

A chorus of "Morning, Al" and "Good morning, Alice" filled the room and she smiled.

"So, darling," said Myron with another one of his winks, "before Bill and Charlie take you down to breakfast, the boys and I have a question for you."

"Just one, of course," added Duke.

Alice nodded her head cautiously.

"Alright, what is it?"

"Last night, your hair," started Myron, "well it wasn't exactly the same color all the time."

"What Myron is asking is, are you a Metamorphmagus?" asked Don, bluntly. Almost automatically, Duke was teasing him.

"There he goes again with that bloody Muggle dictionary," he mumbled, earning him a glare from Don.

"I don't think Muggles know what a Metamorpha-thing is, Duke," said Thrust.

Bars snorted, "Do you?"

"Duh," said Thrust, "they change their hair and stuff."

"You two are really enlightening," joked Herms.

"Oi! Shut it!" snapped Myron. The room fell silent. He returned his attention to Alice. "Well darling, are ya?"

Alice thought carefully for a minute. Moody never actually told her she couldn't show her gift at Hogwarts and Myron and them were her friends. Shrugging, she changed her hair color rapidly and made a pig's face at Myron.

The boys started cheering and clapping far louder then necessary.

"Wicked," Myron stated and the boys nodded in agreement.

"Can you change your eye color too?" asked Duke.

Alice nodded

"Yes, but I don't like to."

"Why not?" asked Thrust.

"Because they're the only thing I have left of my mother," said Alice, nonchalantly. The boys, however, stopped talking immediately and all shared looks. Bill coughed awkwardly before placing his hand on Alice's shoulder.

"Charlie and I are going to take Alice to breakfast now," he mumbled, leading her quickly out of the room. "See you in Charms, Myron."

"There, look."

"Where?"

"Next to the Headboy."

"In between the two red heads?"

"Did you see her face?"

"Did you see her scar?"

Whispers followed Alice from the moment she left the Common Room. When Bill and Charlie left her the constant whispering and staring only got worse. People lining up outside classrooms stood on their tiptoes to get a look at her, or doubled back to pass her in the corridors again, staring. It was very annoying and if she hadn't already memorized the school's layout, thanks to Moody's handmade map during his years at Hogwarts, Alice was sure she would have gotten lost in her frustration.

Hogwarts was anything but small. Even with Moody's notes, because even in school Moody followed the motto 'Constant Vigilance', Alice found herself discovering things Moody never wrote about. For starters, he never wrote that there were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Nor did he write that there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. Then there were the portraits who kept disappearing and the coats of armor moving making it nearly impossible to make place markers. Alice would be rather frustrated with Moody for not mentioning all of this in his notes, but then again, she wasn't supposed to go through his notes in the first place as they were 'secret' and not meant for her eyes. Luckily, however, Alice had the Weasleys and Myron's gang to help her find her way around.

Of course the boys couldn't be around all the time so sometimes Alice found herself in a pickle trying to find her classes. She was very hesitate to ask the other students but Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, was always happy to point her in the right direction. Peeves the Poltergeist, who Alice remembered from the first night with the walking sticks, however, was the last person you ever wanted to get directions from. He would drop wastepaper baskets on students' heads, pull rugs out from under their feet, pelt them with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind them, invisible, grab their nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!" Alice only got it worse, being friends with the only students not afraid of him.

Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Alice managed to get on the wrong side of him on the very first day. Filch found her trying to catch a set of stairs after being stranded in front of the door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe she was waiting for the stairs to return. He was sure she were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock her in the dungeons when she were rescued by Bill, who was passing.

Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of both Myron and Duke to give Mrs. Norris a good kick before they left Hogwarts.

But luckily, after all of the searching and memorizing of how to get there, there were the classes themselves. Undoubtably, they were, next to hanging out with the Weasleys and Myron's gangs, Alice's favorite part of the day.

They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class, if you asked anyone of Alice's classmates, was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Alice's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

Minerva, or Professor McGonagall, was again different. Alice already knew from meeting her before she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Alice and the curly hair Ravenclaw named Penelope Clearwater had made any difference to their match; Minerva showed the class how both matches had gone silvery and pointy and gave the girls a rare smile.

Unfortunately, the class Alice had really been looking forward to, other then Potions, was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Cassius Warrington, a Slytherin in Alice's class who didn't believe a word Quirrell said, asked to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and Thrust and Bars insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.

Alice was disappointed to discover how far behind her class was, and that only her, Penelope Clearwater, and Cassius Warrington seemed to have any idea what they were supposed to know. Unfortunately, Penelope seemed to be a know-it-all and Cassius was a classic Slytherin so the only first years Alice got along with were Angie and a Hufflepuff boy named Cedric, who had been extremely shy when Alice first met him in Charms. Angie and Cedric weren't nearly as close to Alice, however, like the Weasleys and Myron's gang.

Friday, however, was a special day, at least, it was for Alice.

"So what's got you so excited, darling?" asked Myron at breakfast that morning.

Alice grinned at him.

"I've got double Potions today," she beamed. The nine boys stared at her.

"Bill," said Charlie. "Tell dad, Alice is ill and that Mad-Eye should pick her up immediately."

"Honestly, guys," said Don, rolling his eyes.

"Oi! Shut it, Don," snapped Duke. "The girl is obviously dying!"

"No one ever is excited for Potions," clarified Herms, when Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Not since Snape started teaching it," said Gideon, in between bites of eggs.

"What's wrong with Potions?" inquired Alice.

"It's not Potions, Al," said Charlie. "It's Snape. He's Head of Slytherin House. He always favors them -" he looked down at Alice's schedule, "-and you just so happen to have class with his little snakes."

"Bugger for you, darling," said Myron, snatching a piece of toast and standing up. "At least you can drop it after fifth year."

"Or fail out of it like Myron," teased Bill.

"Aye!" snapped Myron, swinging playfully at Bill's head. "I could have passed it if I had tried I just-"

"You just didn't want to?" supplied Charlie.

Myron failed at hiding his grin.

"Shut up, Weasleys," he chuckled. "Come on boys, we've got class. Bye, darling!"

"Bye guys!" giggled Alice and Bill and Charlie laughed. They were still laughing when a letter landed between them.

"Hey, Al," said Bill, reading the letter, "want to come with me and Charlie to Hagrid's around three? You'll be out of Potions by then."

Alice nodded yes before running off to class.

It was lucky that Alice had tea with Hagrid and the Weasleys to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the as dreadful as Myron's gang made it sound.

At the start-of-term banquet, Alice had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked her. By the end of the first Potions lesson, she knew she'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Alice - he hated her.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. Alice, however, found it fascinating and was admiring all the potion ingredients while Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Alice's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Alice Moody. Our new - celebrity."

Alice caught sight of Cassius Warrington and another Slytherin boy, who had ink black hair and was built like a log, were grinning smugly at her. The desire to growl was only suppressed by an elbow from Angie. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black, cold, and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Minerva, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Alice had to scratch the last line of her notes out because she had written dunderheads. She smirked at her mistake but the smirk was quickly wiped from her face.

"Moody!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Alice, surprised someone had called her a name usually used towards her father, only hesitated for a second.

"You could use it for many things, sir but I think the one you're talking about is a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death," said Alice, not even looking up from her notes.

Snape sneered at her.

"And where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"I myself would look inside the hospital wing, sir," she said still scribbling notes, "but a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat. It will save you from most poisons, sir."

Snape wasn't impressed.

"What is the difference, Miss Moody, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Only the name, sir," said Alice. She looked up finally, smiling, and said, "It also is called aconite."

Snape looked livid but instead yelled at the class.

"Well? Why aren't you all copying that down? You too, girl."

"I already did sir," said Alice, still smiling. "I didn't want to forget anything."

Angie glanced at Alice's notes and nearly laughed. Next to each question Snape had asked she had drawn a perfect rendition of his facial expression. Other then his hooked nose being purposely too big, it was very accurate. Unfortunately, Angie's muffled laugh drew Snape's attention. He glared at Alice's notes.

"A point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your improper note taking, Miss Moody."

Alice was about to snap back but Angie elbowed her again.

"Sorry, it's my fault," she whispered, "but it will just make it worse if you talk back."

Reluctantly, Alice returned to her work. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except the Slytherins. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Cassius and his partner had stewed their horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Romilda Vane, one of Alice's fellow Gryffindors, had somehow managed to melt Fay Dunbar's, another Gryffindor first year, cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Romilda, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over her arms and legs.

"Idiot girl!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Romilda whimpered as boils started to pop up all over her nose.

"Take her up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Fay. Then he rounded on Alice and Angie, who had been working next to Romilda.

"You - Moody - why didn't you tell her not to add the quills? Thought she'd make you look good if she got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Alice, who's hair had just changed from a concentrated red to a violent, neon green, shouted, "WHAT?"

Angie kicked her from behind their cauldron.

"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."

As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Alice's mind was racing and her spirits were low. She had lost two points for Gryffindor in her very first week - why did Snape hate her so much?

She met up with Bill and Charlie and told them what had happened.

"Cheer up," said Bill, "Snape's used to take points off Myron and Duke as a sport."

"Yeah," said Charlie, "you'll feel better after tea with Hagrid."

At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.

When Charlie knocked Alice heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - back."

Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.

"Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."

He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"So who's yer friend, boys?" said Hagrid. He looked over at Alice and smiled kindly at her.

"This is Alice Moody," Charlie told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

"Lily's daughter?" said Hagrid. "Ah, the eyes, lovely woman yer mum, was."

Alice smiled.

"I guess you knew her?"

"An' yer father," said Hagrid, as Fang started drooling all over Charlie. "Though yer mother was more friendly."

"That sounds about right," said Alice with a laugh.

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Alice, after examining them carefully when Hagrid wasn't looking, and the boys pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons of the year.

Alice was delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."

"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Filch puts her up to it."

Alice told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Bill and Charlie, told Alice not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.

"But he seemed to really hate me."

"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"

Yet Alice couldn't help noticing that Hagrid didn't quite meet her eyes when he said that.

"So did ye get the job with Gringotts?" Hagrid asked Bill. "I think d'aye be fools not to hire ya - yer great with curse breaking."

Alice knew Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose but didn't press on the subject. While Bill told Hagrid all about his future job, Alice picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet :

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown._

_Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day._

_"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon._

Alice remembered Bill telling her on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Bill hadn't mentioned the date.

"Guys!" said Alice, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while Mad-Eye was there!"

There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Alice's eyes this time. He grunted and offered her another rock cake.

"What's up, Hagrid?" said Charlie. Clearly, Alice wasn't the only one noticing her new friend's weird behavior.

"Nothin'," he grumbled but the three of them weren't convinced.

"Come on, Hagrid," said Bill. "You said you were working for Dumbledore this summer."

"That doesn' mean I know nothin' 'bout what was in vault seven hundred an' thirteen."

Alice looked at Bill and then at Charlie. They both had confused looks on their faces but said nothing so neither did Alice. Instead, Alice read the story again. Had Hagrid emptied the vault and if he had what had been in it? Why, if what Bill had said was true, did Albus have him empty it? And why had Moody been called into examine the bank?

As Alice and the boy walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes Alice been too polite to refuse and Bill and Charlie were planing on giving Gideon, Alice thought that none of the lessons she'd had so far had given her as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected whatever was in the vault just in time? Where was it now? What did Moody have to do with it? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Alice?

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I swear some of my reviewers have the Inner Eye (yes, Calliope29, I'm talking about you). Keep it up and people can just read my reviews to know what is going to happen ;-P

anyway, thanks Nanettez and lexica1999 for the reviews! Please keep reviewing and tell me if you see any errors!

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

DCF


	7. Chapter 7

I dedicate the first sentence to Beau2809 (you know why)

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Chapter 7

Alice knew exactly why Dudley Dursley and hisfriends didn't like her in primary school. It was simple- she didn't put up with his shenanigans. She didn't, however, have any idea why Cassius Warrington and his two goons, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole, hated her.

Walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room after a rather long Charms class, Alice found herself surrounded by the trio.

"So you're the famous Alice Moody," said Cassius with a very fake amount of politeness. "Cassius Warrington. That's Derrick and that's Bole."

He pointed to two brute looking boys with permanent scowls etched on their faces. Alice's hand fell immediately to her side. Moody had been teaching her how to defend herself for as long as she could remember and she had been studying her spell books as if they were her life support since she got them. That, however, did not comfort Alice much when the odds were three against one and Cassius had already proven to be advance in magic as well.

"What do you want, Cassius?" Alice hissed. She fought the urge to step back.

"Well you're a halfblood, right," said Cassius rather then asked. "Which means one of your parents was a Mudblood."

Alice winced, her hair turning a bright green. Mudblood was a very nasty term used by Purebloods who favored blood purity. They used the term to belittle a Muggleborn witch or wizard as if to prove they belonged beneath them because the blood wasn't pure or was 'dirty'.

"And seeing that your father is the crazy Auror Mad-Eye," continued Cassius, "I guess that just leave your dear, dead mom."

"Get lost, Cassius."

Alice didn't remove Cassius from her line of vision when a familiar voice filled the air. She did, however, catch sight of Cedric Diggory standing at her side from the corner of her eye.

"How sweet," crackled Cassius, "a Badger comes to the Lion's aid! Tell me, Badger, are you going to ask us to play nicely? That's all you Hufflepuff are good for anyways, talking."

"Shut up, Cassius and get moving."

This time Alice did look away from Cassius but it was only because she was surprised by the familiar voice she heard. The boy from the train with ink black hair and tan skin was standing at the foot of the stairs growling menacingly, but to who Alice did not know.

"Come on, Mark," whined Derrick. "It's three to two."

"Four if we count you," added Bole. "They'll learn their place fast."

The second year Slytherin sneered.

"Great idea, start a fight outside the Charms classroom. Not like there's a professor in there or anything. Idiots."

Sending Alice a look that told her this wasn't over, Cassius turned on his heels and walked away, Derrick and Bole right behind him.

"Thanks," said Cedric. The older boy sneered at him.

"Shut up, Diggory," he hissed. "I didn't do it for you two, I did it so Slytherin wouldn't lose any points because some first year wanted to be a tough guy."

With that, the second year followed the underclassmen's path back to the dungeon.

"Nice guy, I'm sure of it," said Cedric sarcastically. "Bet he's a real charmer with the teachers too."

Alice snorted, her hair turning a bright blond.

"I knew you were a Metamorphmagus," Cedric said in awe. "Names Cedric Diggory by the way- but I already told you that in class didn't I? Nervous I guess. Dad says I talk when I get-"

"Thank you Cedric," said Alice with a laugh.

Cedric nodded almost apologetically. "Right, you're welcome. Um, so, see you later?"

Alice nodded before running up the stairs but not without a wave to her new friend. When she arrived in the Common Room, she found Angie jumping up and down. Several other first years looked just as excited.

"Alice!" Angie squealed. "We've got flying lessons starting Thursday!"

Alice grinned. She already knew how to fly though she never had any lessons. Moody had given her a broom and told her to learn fast and boy did she. Having an Ex-Auror cast spells at you at random can usually motivate a person to learn things quickly. Flying a broom without a tickling jinx or a giant nose hex shooting at her seemed like a peaceful activity.

"Who's teaching it?"

"Well, me of course," sang Duke, placing a kind hand on Alice's shoulder. "Would have been the snake's captain if he hadn't somehow gotten itching powder in all his robes. He's seeing Poppy right now."

"And I wonder how _that_ got there, Duke," chuckled Bill.

Duke faked offense. He turned to Charlie who had just entered the Common Room and shamelessly acted hurt.

"Charlie, my dear Seeker!" he exclaimed dramatically. "My friend, my brother in everything but blood-"

"Watch it, Myron might get jealous," muttered Don. Duke ignored him.

"- William Arthur Weasley dared to accuse me of sabotaging a sneaky, slimy, excuse-of-a-Quidditch-captain, snake!"

Charlie blinked before looking at Alice for help. She shrugged.

"Did you?"

"Absolutely," beamed Duke. Both first years failed to stifle their laughter making Bill groan.

"Al, don't encourage him," he mumbled.

Duke only grinned wider.

Thursday, however, Alice didn't see Duke grin, in fact, she didn't see Duke at all. At three-thirty that afternoon, she walked with Angie, Fay Dunbar, and Romilda Vane along with the rest of the Gryffindor first years down to the field where lessons were being held.

The Slytherins were already there and Cassius seemed to have captivated all of their attentions as he told them about his Quidditch skills. When he starting talking about meeting the entire Falmouth Falcons, Alice let out a longer then necessary groan. Immediately, Cassius turned around and sneered at her.

"Oh look," he said with a cruel chuckle, "it's the crazy's daughter."

The Slytherins laughed and Alice let her hair turn a bright green.

"Changing your hair to our color won't make you our equal, Halfblood."

At that very moment, Alice swore never to turn her hair green in front of Cassius Warrington ever again. Instead, her hair turned a very determined, blood red.

"Why would I ever want to lower myself?" Alice sneered.

There was a great deal of silent insults from the Slytherins while the Gryffindors roared in approval. Cassius himself looked livid while Angie went as far as hugging Alice.

"Can you even fly, Gryffindork?" Cassius hissed.

"Real original," said Alice, eyes rolling. "And yeah, I can fly."

"Really?" Derrick snorted.

"Your old man let you on a broom?" snickered Bole.

"No wonder he's so paranoid," laughed Cassius and the rest of the Slytherins joined in.

Alice sneered and, judging by the Slytherins reactions, she must have one very similar to her father's. Even Cassius gulped.

"Better then you," she snapped. "Way better."

Cassius made the bold move and stepped towards her.

"Prove it. Up!"

One of the several broomsticks lined on the ground jumped up into Cassius's hand, his eyes never breaking contact with Alice's. He was on it and in the air in a moment and Alice, never being one to back down, had done the same.

Cassius wasn't a bad flier, unfortunately, Alice didn't really care if he was or wasn't. Right now all she wanted to do was knock him off his broom. The chance to do that, however, was gone in an instant. Cassius zipped back down to the ground just in time to signal his fellow Slytherins to start casting sparks at her while the more magically challenged threw rocks.

"Having fun now, Halfblood?" sneered Cassius as Alice zigzagged around the projectiles being thrown and shot at her. She would be lying if she said no. Dodging Moody's jinxes at home was one of the funnest things her father and her did together and compared to him the Slytherins were amateurs.

"All you got, Cassius?" Alice taunted and the silver eye boy glared at her. Forgetting his wand, he picked up a well rounded rock and threw it at her. It would have hit her too if she wasn't so vigilant thanks to her 'crazy' father. She caught it easily and to add insult to injury, Alice threw it back, hitting the fuming Cassius directly between the eyes.

It was a very David and Goliath moment in Alice's opinion. Except David was a girl and a witch instead of a shepherd boy while Goliath was an annoying Slytherin instead of an arrogant Giant. Either way, Cassius landed on his back, his hand moving to where Alice had hit him, which was quickly turning green.

Alice landed on the ground grinning, her fellow Gryffindors patting her back and cheering, when a shout filled the air.

"ALICE MOODY!"

It was Duke and behind him Myron. The serious look on his face could rival Minerva's as he marched up to Alice and took her by the shoulder.

"Watch them until I get back," he said sternly to Myron. Myron nodded, evidently not foolish enough to question Duke when he was in this mode.

Quickly, Duke led Alice off the field, Cassius and his gang of Slytherins snickering as she left, and into the castle. He kept his hand firmly on her shoulder, leading her through the halls and up the stairs in complete and utter silence.

Alice's mind was running a marathon. Why was Duke freaking out about her defending herself especially against a Slytherin? Hadn't he just been bragging about sabotaging one himself? At least she hadn't started it but that didn't seem to matter right now. The last quest that ran through her mind as the enter Minerva's office was: what is Mad-Eye going to say?

"Mr. Duke?" said Minerva. "Shouldn't you be teaching first years how to fly? You didn't leave them unsupervised, did you?"

Duke shook his head.

"Nah, Myron's watchin' them."

For some reason, Duke's words did not please Minerva, but before she could protest Duke continued.

"Professor, we need to talk about Alice."

Minerva lifted an eyebrow, clearly waiting for Duke to continue.

"I want you to get permission for her to be on the Quidditch team."

"What?" said Alice, surprised. Then her hair turned an irritated green. "You butt! I thought I was in trouble!"

Duke didn't even try to hide the grin that slipped on his face but before he could speak Minerva did.

"And why is that, Mr. Duke?"

"Well, ma'am, let's just say I saw what she can do on a broom," he said still grinning. "From kickoff to landing, Professor, she's a natural. And she can dodge better then even me!"

"And exactly why do you know she can dodge so well, Mr. Duke?" asked Minerva, peering over her glasses in a very stern, motherly way.

Duke didn't falter.

"Sometimes, professor, it's best not to ask those kinds of questions."

To this day, Alice swears she saw Minerva's lip twitch towards a smile.

"So let me get this straight," said Charlie for the fifth time during dinner. "You not only showed that little snake his place on the ground and in the air but you also knocked him on his back with a pebble?"

Alice shook her head yes because her mouth was full of potatoes.

"A _pebble_?" Charlie repeated.

"That's not even the best part, Charlie," said Thrust.

"Now we have a new Chaser because of it!" Bars exclaimed.

Alice was surprised by the yelp that escaped Bars when Don kicked him. Apparently, Don was more then your average bookworm.

"Not everyone is supposed to know," Don said dryly. He turned to Alice. "Congratulation, though. Duke and I are Beaters."

"We're Chasers," said Thrust and Bars, proudly.

"Yeah, but they were only reserves last year," whispered Herms, making Alice giggle.

"You, darling, are my hero."

Myron squeezed, and by squeezed we mean he pushed Herms out of the way, himself in between Alice and Herms. He hugged Alice before ruffling her hair.

"Absolutely, brilliant throw. Can't wait to be announcing then to everyone," Myron said, filling his plate with everything Gideon hadn't claimed.

"Where have you been, Myron?" asked Bill.

"Stalking me, Willie?" Myron teased. Bill rolled his eyes. "I've been serving my last detention from last year. Apparently, Argus has been keeping count for the teachers now."

"And your better half?" asked Charlie.

Myron rolled his eyes but played along.

"Destroying Argus's list of detentions."

"Our captain," said Charlie, "such a role model."

Alice yawned, her eyelids dipping closed. They opened wide when Myron jumped to his feet and started making siren noises.

"Red alert! Red alert!" he shouted. "Bill, Charlie, quick! Alice is falling asleep!"

Immediately, Charlie and Bill were off their seats and before Alice could say Quidditch, Charlie had her over her shoulder and in the hall.

"Hey!" cried Alice. "What are you doing?"

"Carrying you to the Common Room so you can go to sleep," answered Charlie as if what she had asked him had been a ridiculous question.

"Don't worry, Al," said Bill, stifling a chuckle. "Charlie can use the exercise."

"Shut up, Bill," Charlie growled, heaving Alice up, three flights of stairs before stopping.

"Tired already?" Bill teased. He looked around and narrowed his eyes. "Charlie, this is the restricted corridor."

"I know but... Oh, come on Bill! You can't say your not curious!"

Alice, although she remembered Albus's speech quite well at the beginning of the year, couldn't help but to agree with Charlie. In fact, every time she passed the corridor, her hair would turn a very bright, curious orange. Not knowing what was behind that door was driving her mental and it had only been two weeks.

"Charlie, I'm not going to go looking inside a room strictly forbidden because I'm curious," sighed Bill. "Especially not with a first year."

"Hey!"

"So, Al," said Bill, "but if you got hurt-"

"Bill," said Charlie, grabbing his brother's shoulders, "it's Alice Moody. Moody. She gots this, whatever this is."

Bill looked torn. He kept glancing around, trying to make sure no one was watching him or coming.

"I'm Head Boy, Charlie," he whined, halfheartedly. "If I get caught, I'll-"

"Oh, shut up and come on."

Charlie pulled his brother over to the door, and, as if he had never even protested, Bill unlocked the door.

"_Alohomora_!"

The door opened slowly, and the trio slipped into the room just as slowly.

"_Lumos_!"

All three wands lit up to revile the exact reason why the corridor was restricted. They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

"Bullocks..." breathed Bill.

"Bloody hell..." whispered Charlie.

"Shit..." mouthed Alice.

Alice didn't remember running back to the Common Room. She wasn't even sure if her feet even touched the ground whether it was because she was moving so fast or because one of the Weasley boys carried her. All she was sure about was the fact that she was out of breath and sitting on the couch between two equally white Weasleys.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now," mumbled Charlie, once he had regained his breath. Bill nodded his head in agreement. The two boys disappeared up the stairs, leaving Alice alone in the Common Room.

Alice's heart was pumping far faster then normal but it wasn't because of fear. She was excited! First she made the Quidditch team and now she discovered a three headed dog inside Hogwarts. Top it off, the dog was guarding something, she was sure of it. She had seen the trapdoor that the dog was standing on and somehow she knew it had to do with whatever Hagrid had retrieved for Dumbledore.

Tomorrow, she'd tell Bill and Charlie but right now was a good time to write Moody and request her broom to be sent in. After all, she had to practice Quidditch on something.

* * *

So one reviewer wants Snape to be abused and another can't help but to love him... You people make my life so much more entertaining.

Thanks for the review and yes, I know that these events take place in 1991 and not 1988 but think of it as an alternate universe like world 51 instead of 26.

Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Long over due, I know.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8

All next week, Alice tried figuring out what the three-headed dog was guarding but Bill only cared about why it was there and Charlie was more interested with the three-headed dog itself.

"Do you think Dumbledore doesn't trust us Prefects with guarding the castle and that's why he got it?" mumbled Bill between bites of egg. As usual, it was only Bill, Charlie and Alice at breakfast today while Myron and his gang had a band meeting. Alice had asked them several times what their band's name was but her question was always dismissed with a "I'll tell you later, darling," or a "it's a surprise".

"Never mind that Bill," said Charlie, "what's more important is what is it? I'm thinking hellhound but I might even go as far as to say it was a Cerberus."

"Guys, focus," Alice hissed. "It was standing on a trapdoor, so it was guarding something and not just the castle."

"There was a trapdoor?"

"Yeah, didn't you two see it?"

Charlie shook his head no while Bill said, "I was a little distracted by the three-headed hellhound-"

"Or Cerberus," added Charlie.

"-or Cerberus, to notice, Al."

Alice shook her head.

"Constant Vigilance, boys," and then, if only to add insult to injury, Alice stuck out her hands, catching a long, thin package the mail owls had carried. A small, brown, barn owl swooped down and dropped a letter on top of the package before flying away.

"Is that, you know?" asked Charlie. Alice didn't reply and instead opened her letter. It was from Moody and just like all letters from Moody it was short, to the point, and never signed.

_Alice._

_ Here's your broom. It's new. Don't open it at the table._

Alice grinned. That was Moody for you. She could write him a twelve page letter, which she had, telling him all about her first two weeks at Hogwarts: her sorting; Bill and Charlie treating her like their sister; Myron and his gang's goofy actions; her hatred for Snape; her hatred for Cassius; what she was doing in her classes; and making the Quidditch team, and he would never write more then a few lines. It wasn't that he didn't care it was that Moody didn't write his emotions well. He did speak them well either. In fact, Moody showed little to no emotion but Alice didn't care. She just knew and right now she knew he was impressed, proud, and bored senseless without her at home to make his life chaotic. She went as far as to think he might even miss her.

"It is," she said, standing up. "I'm going to put it in my dormitory before going to class."

With a quick goodbye to the Weasley boys, Alice hurried out of the Great Hall and up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower. Of course, things wouldn't be normal if someone hadn't stopped her.

Blocking the stairs to the third floor was Cassius and his two goons, Derrick and Bole. Cassius seized the package from Alice and felt it.

"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Alice with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Moody, first years aren't allowed them."

"Out of the way, Cassius," hissed Alice. She tried to push her way through but to no avail. "I said move."

Cassius just laughed.

"Are you going to make me, Halfblood?"

Alice's hair turned a very dark red and she reached for her wand-

"Do you have a reason for blocking the stairs, Mr. Warrington and company?"

Don smirked from the top of the stairs, Duke and Myron, no doubt, not far behind him. He glided down the stairs, his tall frame looking rather intimidating but Cassius was far from intimidated. He looked insulted.

"You don't have the right to say my name you filthy Mud-"

"Ten points from Slytherin for bullying and fowl language," snapped Don.

Alice grinned, her hair turning a bright gold, as Cassius looked like a volcano about to explode.

"You can't-"

"I can, Mr. Warrington," said Don. "I'm a Prefect and you have broken the rules. Just be glad it's only points." He turned towards Alice. "Shall I accompany you to the Common Room?"

Alice smiled.

"Yes please."

The two Gryffindors headed towards the seventh floor only to be stopped by Cassius shouts.

"Aren't you going to take points from her?" he practically screamed. "She has a broomstick and she's a first year. That's at least worth a detention!"

"He's right, Al," said Don, a smile played on his face. "For having that broomstick on school grounds I'm assigning you to detention, tonight at seven-o-clock on the Quidditch Field. Bring your broom and don't be late. Duke is very serious when it comes to practice- actually, it's the only time he's ever serious."

"Seven-o-clock, got it," replied Alice. The two ignored the fuming Cassius at the bottom of the stairs and hurried up to the Common Room.

There was a choir of "Hello darling", "good morning, Alice", and "Hi Al", when Alice reentered the Common Room followed by Duke ripping the packaging off her broomstick like a four year old on Christmas.

"Nimbus 1700," he breathed. "Excellent. Don has one and mum got me one this year for making captain. Gave Charlie my Nimbus 1500, little blighter wouldn't take it forever."

"What did you expect, Duke?" snorted Don. "The Weasleys were raised not to take handouts. That's why they work so hard."

"I know it's just- he really needed a new broom," said Duke. "That Cleansweep Five made being a Seeker nearly impossible for him."

"Oi! Enough on that," snapped Myron. He turned to Alice. "Darling, let me see that broom."

Alice handed it to him and watched as he started grinning ear to ear.

"I can't wait until November fifth. I've been planning on embarrassing those snakes all summer and now... I'm so excited I'm at a lack of words."

"_Finally_," mumbled the gang.

Myron gave them the stink eye while Alice watched on bemused, her hair a bright gold.

When seven-o-clock drew near, Alice left the castle with Bill and Charlie and set off towards the Quidditch field. She was surprised by how big the stadium was, actually. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles that were fifty feet high with hoops on the top.

Standing in the center of the field was Duke, Don, Thrust, Bars, and a brown haired second year.

"Oi! Charlie, Alice! Let's go!" shouted Duke. "Bill, go sit with Myron and them. I don't need extra bodies on the field."

"Yes, sir," Bill snorted sarcastically.

Alice couldn't help but to smile. Evidently, Quidditch was the only thing Duke was serious about. She hurried over to the rest of the Quidditch team with Charlie.

"Alright, quick introduction to our two newbies," said Duke quickly. "Alice, this is Ollie Boy, our new Keeper. Ollie Boy, this is Alice our new Chaser. She's a first year."

"It's actually Oliver, Oliver Wood," said the boy, shaking Alice's hand. "You're the youngest Quidditch player in over a century, you know that?"

"No giving out autographs, Al," whispered Charlie loudly, "Myron and the gang might get jealous."

"That's an extra lap, Weasley," snapped Duke.

"Yes, mum," said Charlie, rolling his eyes.

"Do I need to make it two laps?"

Charlie was very wise and stayed quiet.

"Told you he took this seriously," whispered Don.

"I can hear you, Don," Duke hissed.

Don just shook his head.

"Oh come on, Duke, let's start already."

"Right," said Duke, still giving Don the stink eye. "Because this is our first practice of the year, I want ten warmup laps- eleven for you Mr. Seeker -and then we'll get Al and Ollie Boy practicing the basics while the rest of you do the usual routine. Got it?"

There was a murmur of "yes" and "yeah".

"Yes what?" Duke barked.

"Yes, captain!" the older boys shouted.

"That's better. Now up in the air, the lot of you!"

It turned out that Duke's mother was famous Catriona McCormack who played on the Pride of Portree as a Chaser while his sister Meaghan, or Meg as Myron calls her, recently was signed to her mother's team as Keeper. Duke himself could play professional Quidditch too but he was always saying it was only a hobby for him and that his real future was in the band (who's name Alice still did not know). Which is why Alice was surprised by just how serious Duke was about Quidditch. After flying laps he had them going through what seemed like an endless amount of drills on passing and catching before he even let Alice try to shoot the Quaffle. Luckily for Alice, however, once he did let her shoot it was all Alice had to do for the rest of practice- that and dodge.

By the time practice was almost over, Duke had assigned Bars and Thrust to guard the two side goals while Oliver guarded the middle one. He and Don were doing their best not to fall off their brooms while chasing the little first year who was doing maneuvers even Duke's mother would be impressed by.

"At this rate I won't even need to catch the Snitch," laughed Charlie.

"Poor, boy," said Don shaking his head, "bet he thinks he's a horrible Keeper."

"I'm surprised he isn't in tears yet," snickered Charlie.

"Why would he be? He's blocked ever shot except for Al's."

"Blocking Bars and Thrust isn't that hard, Don."

"Well it's not our fault Meg and everyone grad-"

"Oi! You two!" shouted Duke from the bottom of the field. "Practice is over so quit gossiping like old witches and get down here!"

Alice watched on in amusement as the boys teased each other about practice. Despite what Don and Charlie thought, Oliver was ecstatic about playing Quidditch and wanted nothing more then to practice with Alice all day on blocking. He asked her a lot of questions about her technique and Quidditch preference. By the time she had finished her third practice, Alice was sure she could count Oliver as one of her friends along with all of Myron's gang, Angie, and Cedric, not to mention the Weasleys.

Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice five evenings a week, all of her homework, and taking care of Maddy, but Alice could hardly believe it when she realized that she'd already been at Hogwarts two months. She missed Moody but couldn't think about leaving all her friends so instead she took to writing him a letter twice a week. Alice wrote him so much in fact that Moody had the younger house owl, Armin, stay in the Hogwarts Owlery.

After a particularly long Charms class where Flitwick taught them how to properly use the levitation charm, Alice was walking through the corridor with Cedric towards the Halloween Feast when the two of them heard voices. Curious, if her bright orange hair didn't give it away, Alice dragged her Hufflepuff friend down the hall towards the noise.

"...you're just a know-it-all."

"Am not," sniveled a girl's voice.

"You're right," laughed the first voice, which Alice safely deduced was Cassius, "you're not. You're just a filthy Mudblood."

Alice came around the corner just in time to see Penelope Clearwater run off in tears. Cassius was beaming, very proud with his work.

"What's wrong with you?" barked Alice, her hair a righteous red.

Cassius jumped, clearly surprised to see Alice, but the smug look on his face didn't falter.

"It's what she is," he hissed. "A filthy, useless, good for nothing Mud-"

Cedric's jaw dropped about as fast as Cassius did when Alice punched him. He looked from his friend to the downed Slytherin in disbelief.

"Al!" he finally coughed out. "You can't just punch people!"

"I know," Alice replied, flatly. "That's why I punched a snake instead."

"That's-" said Cedric but he shut up quick. He didn't really blame her for punching him nor was he surprised she had. What had surprised him was just how well she could punch.

"I'm going to check on Penelope," said Alice, tapping the unconscious Cassius with her foot. "You can wake up the snake, k?"

Before Cedric could protest, Alice had taken off down the corridor in search of the crying Ravenclaw girl. She was surprised when Quirrell ran past her, completely oblivious of her presence and even more surprised when Snape followed behind him only moments later, he also not noticing her. Any thought of to why they were running around the castle during a school feast was completely wiped from her mind when she heard loud sobbing coming from the girls' bathroom.

"Hello?" Alice called, entering the bathroom slowly.

The loud sobs were replaced by sniffling and a small whimper.

"Go away."

"Penelope," said Alice stepping into the room fully. She caught sight of Penelope's feet dangling under a toilet stall. "I heard what Cassius called you."

There was a bitter laughter that filled the air mixed with a small cry.

"So you came to pick on me too?" the Ravenclaw mumbled. "Call me a know-it-all and a Mudblood?"

Alice sat down outside the stall, leaning her back against the bar separating it from the next one. She giggled softly.

"Actually I thought you'd like to know I knocked that prat unconscious with my fist."

There was a pause and then, "What?"

"I punched Cassius for what he called you."

The stall door opened revealing the blonde, curly hair girl with Ravenclaw robes and tear streaks down her cheeks. She grabbed Alice's left hand and gasped at the red marks on it. Then she giggled, and then she laughed, and then she was crackling up a storm that Alice joined in on.

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me," Penelope said as her laughter subsided.

"It was my pleasure," said Alice. She climbed to her feet and stuck out her good hand. "Alice Moody, call me Alice."

Penelope smiled.

"Penelope Clearwater, call me Penny."

The two first years shook hands and were just about to leave the bathroom when-

"TROLL!"

Alice had just enough time to tackle Penny under the sinks when a giant log size club slammed into the ground they had just been standing on. She looked up to see their attacker, who was thankfully to dumb to know were his targets had gone, was indeed a troll but not just any troll. A mountain troll. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible.

Her hair turning neon blue, Alice thought as quickly as she could up a plan on how to get her and Penny away from the troll and to safety. All she need was a distraction!

"Hey! Ugly!"

Perfect. Bill and Charlie entered the bathroom and immediately Bill got the troll's attention while Charlie ran over to Alice and Penny.

"Are you two okay?" he asked. Alice nodded but Penny was shaking like a leaf. "Al, I'll carry her but you need to run right behind me, okay?"

Alice shook her head but just then the troll raised his club into the air over his head.

"Now, Al! Run!"

But Alice didn't run. Instead she pointed her wand at the club and with a clear voice she shouted, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over - and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

No one said anything. Bill, who had been about to be squished by the troll's club was looking from the troll to Alice and back. Charlie, who was still carrying Penny and was halfway to the door, was staring with his jaw hanging open while Penny whimpered in disbelief into his shoulder.

Alice, however, was smiling. It had taken two months but she had finally had a reasonable excuse to practice her magic outside of class and she couldn't help but to feel proud of how well she had done.

Penny was the first to speak.

"Is it... Is it dead?"

"Doubtful," said Charlie, "I think Al just knocked it out."

To prove Charlie right, the troll let out a nasty snort that made both Weasleys jump and Penny whimper in fear. Alice just tightened her grip on her wand.

"Definitely still alive," whispered Bill.

Alice nodded her head.

"Shall we go?"

The other three nodded in agreement but as luck would have it that wasn't going to happen. Only a moment later, Minerva rushed into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Minerva took in the scene before glaring at Bill.

"Why on earth are there two first years in here?" she snapped. "As Head Boy, William Weasley, I expected-"

"Professor, it wasn't their fault!" cried Penny. She had released her death grip around Charlie's neck and was now standing on her own two feet.

"Explain, Miss Clearwater."

Penny took a deep breath.

"I was heading to the feast when someone called me a name, a really bad name. I ran off crying and Alice found me in here. She talked to me and we were heading to the feast when the troll came in here and attacked us. If they hadn't came in when they did, we might have died."

Minerva returned her icy gaze to the Head Boy.

"Is this true?"

Bill nodded his head frantically.

"Yes professor. Charlie and I were told by a Hufflepuff boy that Alice was trying to cheer up someone after they were called a name so after we took the other first years upstairs and we went looking for her. We would have told a teacher but you all ran off and Professor Quirrell was unconscious."

"An the troll?"

"Al knocked it out," said Charlie, ecstatically. "Bill had it distracted so I could grab the girls and get them out of her when all of a sudden Alice casted a wicked levitation spell on the troll's club and knocked it out. It was bloody brilliant... Ma'am."

There was a long, awkward pause were no one said anything.

"Very well," said Minerva, finally breaking the silence, "five points to each of you for working together and another five to you, Miss Moody, for being a model student to even those outside your house. I still say you were lucky, but not many students could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. I will walk you back to your dormitory, Miss Clearwater. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

They hurried out of the room and didn't speak until they reached the fifth floor.

"Thank you," said Penny as they parted ways, her to the Ravenclaw Tower and Alice and the Weasley's to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Any time," said Alice, waving goodbye.

Bill snorted, "We better not have another time, Alice. I'm not facing another troll for a long time."

"Whimp," snapped Alice, her hair a grassy, green.

Bill just rolled his eyes as his little brother howled with laughter.

* * *

Just so no one thinks Alice is turning to Mary Sueish, please remember that her father is MAD-EYE Moody and therefore her extreme Quidditch capabilities are thanks to his strict training. Sorry there was so many boring paragraphs but I needed to get certain details in there for later on and to explain what was going on. Grr... Not my best chapter but hopefully I'll make up for it in the next one.

thanks **telmios** for the review and I hope you liked this chapter (more Weasleys!)

Next chapter might have a little bit of our favorite grump *cough cough Moody cough cough* but only if I get a please... Or if I break down and admit I miss him as much as Alice does.

Anyway, please review!

DCF


	9. Chapter 9

So, not as long as I had hoped it would be but I think you all might like this chapter...

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9

Somehow, the fact that Alice was the Gryffindor's newest Chaser had remained a secret even on game day. At first Alice had been surprised that Cassius hadn't told anyone but then she remembered the envious look he had given her when he discovered she was allowed to have a broomstick. It was safe to say he wasn't going to spread that rumor when it had a chance to improve her status at Hogwarts but it was also safe to guess he had told the Syltherin Team so they were prepared. Of course, Alice had told Angie, Cedric, and Penny about her position on the team but all three of them had sworn to secrecy and seeing that no one else knew about it yet it was safe to say they hadn't told anyone.

When the first Saturday of November arrived, Alice woke up extra early. She was nervous for the first time since the sorting ceremony. Maddy tried calming her down while she was sleeping by humming but in the end he grew bored and tried licking the inside of her nose. Heading to breakfast, Alice was now sure of two thing- she wouldn't be getting a runny nose during the game and Maddy was never licking her hand again.

"Al, you need to eat something," Charlie whispered.

Alice grunted at the sight of her friend's equally empty plate.

"So do you."

"Here you go, Alice," said Oliver, handing her two well jammed slices of toast. "It's raspberry. Eat up."

"Thanks, Ollie," Alice mumbled as Oliver handed Charlie two equally covered slices of toast. She was nibbling on it when Myron and Duke entered the Great Hall.

"Smile, darling," sang Myron. "It's the fifth of November!"

Alice lifted an eyebrow. "So?"

Instantly, Myron and Duke broke out into song.

_ "Remember, remember! _

_ The fifth of November, _

_ The Gunpowder treason and plot; _

_ I know of no reason _

_ Why the Gunpowder treason _

_ Should ever be forgot! _

_ Guy Fawkes and his companions _

_ Did the scheme contrive, _

_ To blow the King and Parliament _

_ All up alive. _

_ Threescore barrels, laid below, _

_ To prove old England's overthrow. _

_ But, by God's providence, him they catch, _

_ With a dark lantern, lighting a match! _

_ A stick and a stake _

_ For King James's sake! _

_ If you won't give me one, _

_ I'll take two, _

_ The better for me, _

_ And the worse for you. _

_ A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope, _

_ A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, _

_ A pint of beer to wash it down, _

_ And a jolly good fire to burn him. _

_ Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring! _

_ Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King! _

_ Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!"_

Alice blinked.

"Um, wasn't Guy Fawkes a wizard?" she said, subconsciously taking a large bite of her toast.

"And don't we like the Pope guy?" asked Charlie. "I mean, those witch trials were a rough bump but after he and -"

"Not another history lesson, Seeker," groaned Duke.

"Yeah, Don just went through telling us all about Fawkes faking his death and the Pope meeting with the Minister of Magic and all that," grumbled Myron. "We just thought the song was fun."

"I liked it," piped in Oliver. "Do you know any Quidditch songs?"

Myron was about to answer when Duke cut him off.

"Sing it at the game, Myron."

"Yes, sis."

"Told you they were weird sisters," said Alice. Her hair turned a bright orange as Myron, Duke, and Charlie hollered in laughter. "What?"

"Later, darling," said Myron, "later."

Alice rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to behave yourself at game today, Myron?" asked Don, while munching on a bagel. "Professor McGonagall isn't afraid to hit you, you know."

"Oh come now," laughed Myron, "Minnie loves me. See, watch."

All eyes watched as Myron winked suggestively at Minerva who immediately pinched her nose in annoyance and shook her head.

"See? The older ones all love me," Myron said with a bark of laughter. He took a giant bite of his eggs.

Alice's hair turned a devious blue as a grin fell on her face.

"And what does Meg think about that?"

It was a good thing Don knew the Heimlich maneuver or else Myron would have choked to death at the mentioning of Duke's older sister.

When eleven-o-clock finally came, Alice found herself pacing in the Gryffindor locker room. Her scarlet robes were slightly too big for her making her step on them every time she turned on her heel but she knew they wouldn't be a problem once she was in the air flying. Now if only her nerves would go away!

"Alright boys," snapped Duke, clapping his hands together. He looked at Alice almost apologetically and added, "And lady. It's the first game of the season. Us, verses Slytherin, Fire verses Water, Lion verses Snake-"

"Winners verses Cheaters," said Bars.

"Godric's best verses Salzaar's slimiest," added Thrust.

"-Good verses Bad," continued Duke. "We can do this men- and Alice. We can beat those snakes and win that Quidditch Cup. We WILL win today."

He gave them a look that said, "Or else."

"Alright, it's time. Good luck, all of you guys- and Alice, and let's win this for who?"

"Gryffindor!"

"Who?" Duke barked.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Alice and her fellow teammates roared.

They marched out of the locker room and were greeted by an equally loud roar from not only the Gryffindor House but also the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses. Ravenclaw was clearly still thankful for Alice and the Weasleys saving their little raven Penny, who had made a sign for Alice that read: Alice the Troll Crusher, and Hufflepuff was almost always on Gryffindor's side during Quidditch games.

Taking a deep breath, Alice looked around the stadium and had to take another breath. Sitting on the left side of the Headmaster, with his back to the wall and his hand gripping his walking staff uneasily, was Moody! She couldn't help but to grin even when she realized the ink hair boy Cassius had called Mark was glaring at her.

Madam Hooch, Hogwarts Quidditch referee, stood in between the two teams, holding her own broomstick, looking intimidating.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her. Alice noticed her yellow eyes lingered a great deal longer on the Slytherin team when she said this.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Alice climbed onto her Nimbus 1700 and took a deep breath one last time.

Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle and threw the Quaffle high in the air.

Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air but Alice's was by far the fastest. The moment the whistle was blown Alice had dove for the Quaffle and before the Slytherin keeper had even reached his goal post Alice had scored.

"And just like that, ladies and gentlemen, Gryffindor's newest Chaser, and the youngest Chaser in over a century, first year, Alice Moody, has scored in under a minutes time! You show those snakes, darling! Ouch!"

Myron, the game announcer, had just been popped in the back of the head by Minerva.

"Minnie, please," he whined jokingly, "we're in public."

"Myron Wagtail!" shouted Minerva.

"What?" said Myron. "Oh come now, Minnie, admit it, you loved it!"

"Mr. Wagtail," snapped Minerva, "you will show proper respect to each team why commentating and do not call me that!"

"Yes darling," said Myron but he caught Minerva still glaring at him. "Love? Sweets? Sugar-pie? Dumpling? Dear? Beautiful? Milady? Goddess who can glare a man into an early grave? Oh, admit it, professor, you're going to miss me when I'm gone!"

Minerva's glare never wavered but luckily for Myron, he continued on with narrating.

"Let's give the lovely Alice a big roar, Gryffindor!"

The crowd was stopped cheering suddenly when a Bludger hit Oliver square in the head. If it wasn't for Duke and Don's quick action, he would have fallen to his death but luckily they caught him just in time.

"A cheap shot by the Slytherin team, hitting a poor, defenseless, second year while the Quaffle wasn't even in play."

"Mr. Wagtail!"

"Oh, sorry Minnie," said Myron. "Foul! Free shot for Gryffindor."

Duke zoomed over to Alice and handed her the Quaffle.

"You do it," he whispered. "Don and I are going to keep a watch on you. I think the Slytherins are planing on taking out our newbies to scare you two away."

Nodding, Alice took the Quaffle and shot her penalty shot.

"And score for Gryffindor! Another amazing shot by Alice Moody! Not bad for an Ickle Firstie, right Minnie?"

"The game, Mr. Wagtail, announce the game."

"Right. And Slytherin has possession of the - never mind! Alice has stolen the Quaffle! She passes it to Barbary, Merlin that's an awful name, Bars- now to Thruston- back to Barbary - to Alice - did you see that Minnie? Alice Moody has scored AGAIN and this time by kicking the Quaffle into the goal! Slytherin's Keeper, Bletchley must be embarrassed-"

"Wagtail..." warned Minerva.

"- not that any other Keeper wouldn't be after such an amazing score and- oh look at that!"

Alice had once again stolen the Quaffle only this time she had taken it directly out of the hands of the ink hair boy's hands while hanging off her broom by her feet upside down. Hey, Moody was here, she had to show off.

"-and Marcus Flint does not look happy about losing that Quaffle. In fact, none of the Slytherins do- hey! Alice has just narrowly escaped a Blatching and for all you newbies out there, a Blatching is when a no good, cheating, low life-"

"WAGTAIL!"

"Minnie! Anyway, it's when a player purposely tries to collide with another player which two Slytherins just did. So two penalty shots for Gryffindor!"

Alice made the two penalty shots with ease but she felt the entire Slytherin team glaring at her as she did. She had just barely dodged the fifth Buldger head towards her head when suddenly-

"What in Merlin's name- Alice seems to be having a little broom trouble."

A little was an understatement. Suddenly, Alice's broom was jerking wildly. If it wasn't for Moody having cast similar spells on her broom during training, Alice was sure she would have fallen off. Even then, however, she hadn't been nearly a hundred feet in the air and rising. For unknown reasons, she refused to let go of either her broom or the Quaffle even as the broom jerked even more wildly.

"Duke and Don are flying underneath their young Chaser in case whatever is wrong with Alice's broom sends her flying- no pun intended- off but what we really need is some to catch the Snitch. Yes, Charlie, you. **_CATCH THE BLOODY SNITCH_**!"

For once, Minerva did not correct Myron. She was, like everyone else in the stadium, to concentrated on Alice who was fighting for her life to stay on her hexed broom. Alice's broom suddenly gave a wild jerk and Alice swung off it. She was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

"Al, WATCH OUT!" Charlie cried but a second too late. With a finally jerk, she was thrown off her broom, her hand immediately let go of the Quaffle and covered her mouth even as she fell. And fell. And fell, until Charlie grabbed her free hand.

He pulled her up on his broom and for a brief moment it looked like Alice had thrown up on him. But she hadn't and instead Charlie clasped his hand around the golden ball that flew out of Alice's mouth while Alice wrapped her arms around him for support.

"I don't believe it but Charlie Weasley has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!"

Landing in a tumble, Alice didn't hear the uproar coming from the Slytherin Team, nor did she hear the cheers of the other Houses, all she did hear was Charlie shouting.

"We won! We won!"

He pulled Alice into the tightest hug she'd ever received. Seconds later Duke and Don had her on their shoulders and Bars and Thrust were flying victory laps around them. She didn't listen as the Slytherin team accused her of Snitchnipping; she didn't pay attention when Madam Hooch disclaimed their accusation; and she just barely caught Myron's victory song because she was so happy.

Moody was standing on the outskirts of the pitch smiling ever so slightly at his daughter. No one paid him any attention, or at least they tried not to anyway, even when Alice ran up to him. She stopped short of giving him a hug but began jumping up and down in front of him.

"Did you see me out there? Did I do good?"

Moody grunted before removing Alice's hood. Duke had made her wear it during the game to prevent her hair from showing what she was feeling.

"You hang for your life for the last five minutes of the game because someone jinxed your broom and one of the first questions you ask me is did you do good?"

Alice nodded her head frantically. She had just had a near death experience, fallen seventy feet in the air, and had only just been saved and all she cared about was how well she had played. Moody wasn't sure if that was thanks to him or Lily she was like that. Either way, he had to shake his head at the blonde hair girl to keep himself from laughing.

"Your flying was excellent, Allie," he said and Alice beamed. "But don't go getting a big head over it. You should have let go of that Quaffle sooner and you never would have fallen off."

"But where's the fun in that?" asked Alice, innocently. Moody just rolled his eye.

Only thirty minutes later, Alice had said goodbye to her father and had gone to the hospital wing to see how Oliver was doing. She was sitting in one of the chairs by his bed next to Duke, who besides her and Charlie was the only Quidditch player still awake, when Bill came running in.

"Sorry Duke, but I need to talk to Al and Charlie," he said, patting. "Now."

Quickly, Alice and Charlie joined Bill in the hall.

"It was Snape," Bill explained, "the boys and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, who happened to be walking by. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

"What are you doing here, Hagrid?" asked Charlie.

"Came to check on ol' Oliver," said Hagrid. "Now why is ya accusin' Snape?"

"I found out something about him," Bill told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him, I know it. When we were walking back to the Common Room that night I saw him limping and today, after the game, I caught him talking to Filch. Filch was bandaging his leg and Snape said something about watching all three heads at once. I think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid's jaw dropped.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" said Alice eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Al?" cried Bill. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I'm Head Boy for a reason! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Alice's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" said Charlie, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.

* * *

Got to love Myron :D

Hope we understand that Minnie is a nickname Myron calls Minerva McGonagall. Also a Snitchsnip is when a player other then the Seeker catches or touches the snitch. It's a foul but it's very vague in its description so I'm going to say its only a foul when the player purposely does it, which Alice clearly didn't do.

Anyway, seriously guys, please REVIEW!

DCF

after thought: the next chapter is Christmas Break. I want to know if you all prefer Alice at home or at Hogwarts for Christmas


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